


Silver and Cold

by Couyfish, Threshie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel In Love, Cursed Object, Cursed Sam, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Impala, Kissing, M/M, Men of Letters Bunker, Monster Sam, Sastiel - Freeform, Stargazing, Team Free Will, Unrequited Love, merman Sam, somewhere around season 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-10-07 13:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10361052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Couyfish/pseuds/Couyfish, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Threshie/pseuds/Threshie
Summary: When a cursed necklace turns Sam into a merman with an alluring effect on people, Dean and Cas must find a way to cure him. Dean seems immune to Sam's powers, but Cas is another story.





	1. Cursed

**Author's Note:**

> I've drawn a few pics for this fic. A few people were asking what Mer!Sam looks like, so here ya go!
> 
> [Cas carrying Mer!Sam](http://threshasketch.tumblr.com/post/159215305893/heres-what-mersam-from-my-and-beingcouys)   
>  [Chibi Mer!Sam in the bathtub](http://threshasketch.tumblr.com/post/168710004043/silver-and-cold-stuck-mersam-in-the-bathtub-a)   
>  [The singing scene](http://threshasketch.tumblr.com/post/165392609738/the-singing-scene-from-silver-and-cold)   
>  [Chibi Mer!Sam under the sea](http://threshasketch.tumblr.com/post/169570724918/a-little-mersam-from-silver-and-cold)   
>  [Chibi Sam borrows chibi Cas's coat on the beach](http://threshasketch.tumblr.com/post/158339345978/sastiel-from-a-rp-scene-sam-just-changed-back)   
>  [Mer!Sam in the water](http://threshasketch.tumblr.com/post/160938667653/another-mersam-from-my-and-beingcouys)   
> 

Sam had been pouring through box after box in the bunker basement for what felt like hours. When he finally checked his phone, it was well after lunch. His stomach rumbled to remind him that his breakfast was long gone.

With a sigh, he leaned to grab the last box on the shelf he’d been organizing. With a little click, its lid dropped off and something landed on his palm.

Cringing, Sam caught it just in time. He rolled the polished little box over and looked at what had been inside. A little silvery scale. It caught the light from overhead and Sam had to blink from the bright gleam. The surface shimmered brilliantly. It was on a braided leather cord, but the contrast only made the necklace more beautiful.

He stood up and dangled it by the cord, breaking his gaze away to check out the box it had been in. No symbols or seals, which was a great sign — it probably wasn’t cursed.

"Sam?" He heard a call from somewhere upstairs. "Are you down here?" The voice was already getting closer. Castiel poked his head into the storeroom and glanced around until he caught sight of Sam. 

"Dean ordered food," the angel said, taking a step inside the room. He noticed the shining pendant, but barely glanced at it before looking at Sam again.

“Food sounds great.” Sam gave him a smile. He turned to sit the box back on the shelf when he suddenly realized that he was still holding the necklace.

Even more surprising was that, though he was confident that he had placed it into the box, it was around his neck. He glanced at it and then over at his angel friend.

“D-did… Did I just…” Sam opened the box and put the necklace into it. Taking note of the scale still sitting there inside, he closed it and sat it on the shelf. Right. Way too much head damage lately.

He tucked his hands into his pockets and turned back to Cas.

“What’d he order?”

The angel had stepped closer when he turned back, and was looking at him curiously. 

"He said panini. I don't know what that is," he admitted, shrugging and smiling. He was still looking at Sam like there was something interesting about him. Maybe it was the necklace.

Sam reached up to brush his thumb over the scale. It was soothing somehow— 

“What the hell?” He sputtered, hurrying to untie the cord and take the necklace back off. Spinning, he grabbed the box and shoved the necklace back inside.

No, no, no. He didn’t just touch a cursed item. Dean was going to kill him. What was the necklace going to do?

Knowing their luck, he’d probably be a drooling, baby-eating monster by midnight.

“Panini? That’s, uh, panini is, um… Really good.” He turned back to Castiel again, grimacing.

Cas looked at him for a long moment, then seemed to realize it and glanced around the room quickly instead. 

"Ah. Okay." He turned and took a step for the door, but then glanced back to see if Sam was following.

Sam was gritting his teeth, pinching the scale around his neck. It WAS cursed. That was the last thing he needed. It was a little weird that Cas hadn’t noticed it teleporting around Sam’s neck, but maybe he was distracted by the panini.

Sam’s shoulders slumped as he followed the angel upstairs. Maybe he should hold off telling Dean until he did some research?

Then again, hiding it seemed like a horrible idea. Especially with their little history of keeping secrets.

It was just a necklace, though. Not demons or angels. Just a little, shiny scale on a cord. Other than it refusing to be put away, he hadn’t noticed any magical effects. He felt normal enough. Maybe it was just clingy. Yeah. 

"So...how is the cleaning going?" Cas was talking to him, even though he didn't seem to know what to say at the moment. The angel almost seemed a little flustered. What had Sam missed while downstairs in the storeroom for hours, anyway?

Dean was off across the main room, reading something on the computer and drinking a beer. Maybe he really did eat all of the food.

“Good.” Patting Cas on the shoulder, Sam joined his brother at the table. He waved the angel over. “There’s still a bunch of unmarked boxes down there. Most of it is old junk, but who knows.” He rubbed the scale with his thumb again. Man, he was thirsty. But a beer just didn’t sound good — a nice big glass of ice water sounded way better. Shaking the thought off, Sam cleared his throat and looked at Dean.

“Where’s lunch?”

"Bag's on the other table," his brother said, jerking a thumb in the general direction he was talking about. He sat back from the computer and stretched his arms over his head, yawning. "Done sifting through all of the dust down there yet? I might have a case for us to check out."

Cas had stepped up beside Sam, and was looking at him still, like every little thing he did was interesting. It had to be the necklace, but he wasn't commenting on it if it was.

“I might have one too,” Sam mumbled under his breath. He didn’t make any move to get the food. Despite how hungry he was, it was hard not to notice Cas’s staring. He was staring more than usual — if that was even possible. Sam glanced at him and then back to Dean, pulling on a forced smile. “What’d you find?”

When he was glanced at, Cas promptly looked away and fidgeted. He even took a step off to the side, and started to poke at some papers on the table, now staring at them instead. Noticing this, Dean glanced after the angel and raised an eyebrow. 

Turning back to Sam, he said dubiously, "Some ghost town tourist trap in Nevada keeps eating people. Might actually have some ghosts in it." He paused and looked at the necklace Sam wore, frowning. "Hey, where'd you get that?"

“Ghosts?” Sam said a bit too loudly. “We haven’t had a ghost case in awhile — let’s go!” He got to his feet and glanced around for his jacket. Right. It was still in the basement.

"It's a good day's drive," Dean told him, crossing his arms. "Sure you don't wanna eat lunch first, at least?"

Cas stepped back toward the staircase, shooting Sam a concerned look. 

"Yes, you should eat. I saw your coat in the basement — I'll bring it to you." He headed off downstairs before either of the brothers could comment.

“Cas, wait!” Sam called after him, stepping to follow him. But his legs didn’t work. At all. He crashed past the table, grasping at a chair on his way down and taking it with him. As his cheek connected with the hard floor, he felt his face glow with embarrassment. Rolling to get back up — and maybe hide in his room for the rest of the day — Sam stopped dead.

Why…were his pants laying on the floor? His legs felt really weird, too. 

No. Not legs. 

Tail?

Ignoring the throbbing bruise forming on his head, Sam gawked at the shiny silver tail that had replaced his legs. He had fins where his feet had been, and the fish tail was coated in glistening scales like the one hanging on the necklace.

“Oh shit,” he breathed.

Dean, meanwhile, had frozen in place next to him when he abruptly went toppling to the floor. Sam's brother was staring at the fish tail, too stunned to have much reaction yet. 

"What...the hell..."

Sam held up a hand to stop him there.

“The box was broken. It just fell out. I tried to put it back, but…” He grabbed the little scale again and groaned, laying back on the floor.

Dean stepped carefully over the shining tail, kneeling beside him. 

"I knew you weren't wearing that when you went down there!" He said, scowling and pointing at the necklace. "Let me guess, it won't let you take it off, either."

Steps came from the stairs. Cas, probably returning with Sam's coat.

“No, I can take it off. It just reappears instantly,” Sam grumbled, sitting back up on his elbows to glare Dean down. “Just go get the box. There has to be some kind of record of it. Someone took it off at some point, or it wouldn’t be in the basement.”

Maybe he could crawl to the couch in the meantime. It wasn't that far...

"Okay," Dean said dubiously, studying the tail. "What does the box even look like?" 

"Sam?" Castiel stepped quickly over when he saw that Sam was on the floor, but paused and tilted his head when he sighted the tail. "..."

“It’s a small polished box. It’s the only one left on the shelf in the back of the basement. Every other shelf is stacked. Just look for the empty one,” he explained to Dean. Then he rolled over onto his stomach and looked for the nearest piece of furniture. A wing back chair across the room caught his eye. He looked up at Cas and sighed. 

“There’s probably some book on this. We should start under ‘mermaid’ I guess,” he continued. They could go get stuff while he hauled himself off of the floor. He really doubted Dean could lift him, even with how muscular his brother was. Castiel, on the other hand… 

Dean gave a weary sigh – this stuff happened half the time for them, so it was just another case – and knelt down to grab one of Sam's arms. 

"Okay, sure. First maybe we better move you somewhere people won't trip on you."

“What people?” Sam said under his breath. Everyone was dead or gone now — except the three of them. Right. Not the time or place. Dropping Sam's coat on the floor, Cas hurried to kneel by his other side. 

"I'll help him, Dean. Go get the box," he said worriedly.

Dean glanced from him to Sam, shrugging. The younger Winchester sat up as much as he could and wrapped an arm over Cas’s shoulders. Sort of. He ended up halfway on the angel’s lap, and sighed. 

“I’m not sure I can sit at the table.”

"Yeah, good luck with that," Dean agreed, standing and heading for the basement stairs. Examining the box the necklace had been in was probably the quickest way to a cure.

Cas, meanwhile, had put both arms around Sam. If he didn't know better, Sam would say the guy was blushing.

Sam craned his neck to look up at Cas and nodded toward his room.

“My room’s right there. You can just drag me over there.” He really had to wonder if he weighed more now. Considering the size of his tail and how much normal fish weighed at that size, he was probably much heavier than before. Maybe crawling wasn’t such a bad idea.

Cas glanced over at the door, then down at Sam. 

"I thought...perhaps you should be in water," he suggested, looking down at the silvery tail worriedly. "How did this happen?"

“My guess would be the cursed necklace that I’m wearing — come on,” Sam sighed. The bathtub did sound really nice. He’d have to lose the shirt, but if he didn’t turn back to normal anytime soon he might dry out. He nodded, looking at Cas nose to nose. “Water might be a good idea. It’s a little farther away. Is that okay?”

The angel's blue eyes were hard to avoid that close. He seemed a little surprised Sam was looking back, and this time the blushing was obvious. 

"That's okay," he agreed quickly, moving to pick Sam up. It was kind of a bridal carry, and luckily Castiel didn't seem to have any trouble lifting him. 

Latching an arm around the angel’s neck, Sam felt himself blush too. The whole thing was ridiculous. At least with a tail, he wasn’t so tall versus Cas. Not that he ever thought it was a bad thing. He liked the way Cas looked up at him with those big gawky eyes. It made him seem almost cartoon like.  
Yet sometimes, like how the dark haired man had been looking at him today, his eyes didn’t seem so goofy. Thinking back on the awkward stares, Sam cleared his throat.

“Can you see the magic off of the necklace or something?” He shifted to look at Cas again, trying not to focus on the way the angel’s arms felt around him. Sam couldn’t remember the last time anyone carried him around. It had to be when he was little. It felt a little surreal.

Cas glanced down at him, stepping out into the hallway. 

"Magic? No," he said quietly. "I see the tail, of course. It looks perfectly real, though."

 _Then why do you keep staring at me?_ Sam thought with a frown. Maybe he had dust on his face or something. Dean wouldn’t care or comment on it, but Cas might find it weird.

“It’s real. I can feel it like the rest of my body. It’s really freaky,” he added dryly, resting his head on Cas’s shoulder. What was taking Dean so long? Hell, did he even know where they went?

"I'm sure Dean will find a cure for it soon," Cas assured him, glancing quickly when Sam rested his head on his shoulder. He seemed surprised at that. 

They turned a corner and were in one of the bathrooms. The bunker had several; this one had a nice, big old clawfoot tub.

Sam sat back up and looked the room over. He nodded.

“This works. I’m going to need a table for the laptop to sit on.” Wow. Not having legs made him needy. He looked at Cas and smiled sheepishly. “If you can. Sorry. Just drop me in.”

It vaguely occurred to him that he was still wearing two shirts, but he could fight his way out of those without Cas’s help. The princess carrying was awkward enough.

"I can bring those." The angel carefully placed him in the bathtub so that he could lean back against one side, then paused and looked down at the faucet handle near Sam's tail. He glanced back to the brunette thoughtfully. "Should I run hot or cold water?" 

Sam didn’t reply. He was too busy trying to take his shirts off. He had never had a clearer meaning of the phase ‘flopping like a fish out of water.’ Popping a few buttons and tearing the shoulder on his flannel shirt, he finally got it and the tank top off.

Huffing unhappily, he dropped the shirts on the floor and sat back against the tub. It was cold, but for some reason that didn’t bother him at all.

He looked up at Cas, blushing.

“Uh, what?”

The angel was blushing, too, and had definitely been staring until Sam looked at him. He quickly switched his focus to the bathtub faucet, leaning to put the drain plug into place. 

"The water," he managed, visibly flustered. "Hot or cold?"

It wasn’t the necklace. It was him. Sam himself.


	2. The Box

The big brunette stared at Cas. He was the reason for the blushing and sudden increase of awkwardness from the angel. Sam shrank down into the bathtub as much as he could manage, suddenly very conscious of the last of his clothes laying on the floor.

“Cold,” he managed shyly, hugging his arms over his bare chest. “We should probably tell Dean where we went.”

Cas turned the water on, standing back up with a small nod. 

"I'll tell him," he said, sneaking a glance at Sam before quickly turning to make a beeline for the door. "And I'll bring the table..." He had disappeared out the door before Sam could reply, trench coat flying out behind him. Why now? Did Cas have a thing for mermaids?

Sam watched the water fill up around his new shiny silver tail, lost in thought.

How long had Cas been sneaking glances? Was Sam just oblivious or had the angel had a thing for him for a long time? All the little looks, the hugs…but Cas acted the same way around Dean.

Ugh. They should just focus on the problem at hand first.

Sam experimentally wiggled his fins. Oh hell. That was bizarre. He slipped down farther into the water, letting his tail hang out of the other end of the tub. The water felt so nice around him. It made the fact that he was half fish seem a little less scary.

An image of swimming through the ocean passed through his mind and Sam couldn’t help smiling. Then he ducked under the surface. He could feel the water vibrate more than hear the footsteps enter the room. It was probably Cas bringing the table and computer back for him. Maybe a towel would be smart, too, or he would get the laptop wet trying to type.

The moving water from the faucet stopped near his tail. Somebody had turned it off now that the tub was full.

Sam opened his eyes and looked up through the water, realizing that he hadn’t been holding his breath. Go figure he could breath underwater. That just made sense. Swimming in the ocean sounded even more amazing than before — the tub was starting to feel too small. 

Dean's face appeared over the edge of the tub, distorted by the water between them. He raised an eyebrow and leaned a hand on the porcelain, holding up the scale necklace's box with the other. Sam stared back at him, reaching a hand up out of the water to take the box. The moment his fingertips brushed the polished wood, he gagged.

He struggled to sit up, splashing Dean and a good portion of the water out of the tub as he coughed up a lung full of water. Wheezing and clutching the edge of the tub, Sam squinted through blurry eyes at his brother. 

“What the hell,” he panted, glancing and realizing that he had legs again. He pointed across the room. “Towel.” He coughed.

Dean stuck the box on the table and quickly shoved a towel into his hands. 

"You okay?"

Castiel, he realized, was also in the room putting the laptop on the table. The angel was carefully looking anywhere but at him.

Covering himself quickly, Sam cleared his throat. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just didn’t expect to need air that suddenly.” He dabbed his face off with the edge of the towel. “I think the box did it.” He frowned at the box on the table, glancing as Cas shyly. Right. “Um, could you get my pants, Cas?”

A quick nod was the only reply he got (in his general direction, as Cas still wouldn't look at him), and then the angel retreated from the room.

Dean watched him go. Turning back to Sam, he frowned thoughtfully. 

"...So, the box did it, huh."

Sam grabbed his brother’s collar and yanked him closer to whisper.

“Help me.” He stared at Dean with his best puppy eyes.

Dean grabbed the side of the bathtub with both hands like he thought Sam might be trying to pull him in. 

"That's kind of what I'm trying to do," he pointed out dubiously. "Can you take the necklace off now that you touched the box?"

“It’s doing something to Cas,” Sam hissed, grabbing the necklace and glancing to make sure that the angel hadn’t come back yet. “He’s…um.” He licked his lips nervously. Was he seriously about to blame the whole thing on the scale? There had to be something going on before that. With all the gawking and hugging and taking care of them…

Dean frowned, sitting up. He kept his hands resting on the edge of the tub, though. 

"He's what? Seems like he's trying to help to me."

“I think he’s, you know.” Sam nodded, staring his brother down. The scale felt so smooth against his thumb. Almost like liquid itself. Sam blinked heavily, looking back down into the water. It was safe. “He won’t stop staring at me,” he mumbled, letting go of the edge of the tub and sinking back down. With a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes.

Dean stuck a hand in the tub and grabbed his shoulder before realizing that Sam's legs had turned back into the silvery fish tail again. He let go quickly, standing and picking up the box from the table with a frown. 

Whatever he said was muffled by the water, and a moment later Sam felt the ripples around him as the door was opened and closed. Did Dean leave, or did Cas come back?

Sam sat back up, slipping a hand over the edge of the bathtub. He looked around for his brother.

“Dean?” He called, swiping his hair back out of his face. Why’d he take the box?

He was alone in the room. 

Quiet voices drifted in from the hallway, even through the bathroom door. After what felt like a long time, the voices went quiet.

Sam frowned.

Great. He must have been further off his rocker than he thought. While the idea of turning back to being human butt naked in the hallway wasn’t appealing, he didn’t like being left out of the conversation.

He pulled himself over the side of the tub and landed with a splash on the hard tiles.

The door opened at the splashing sounds, and the next moment, Castiel was at his side. Just Cas, apparently Dean had left them together right after Sam tried to tell him Cas was acting strange. Great.

"Sam! Are you okay?" The angel placed a hand on his back. It must have looked like he'd face planted out of the tub. "Your legs are gone again..."

Sam rolled over onto his back to look up at the angel.

“I’m fine. Where’s Dean? He took the box.” 

"He's going to run some tests on it." Castiel was still looking at him that way — like he was the most important thing. He looked maybe a bit bothered, too, though. "I can lift you back into the water..."

Sam stared up at him, trying not to squint from the light behind the angel’s head. It made him look, well, angelic. The moment Sam was out of the water, all he wanted to do was go back.

Thank God Castiel was there for him.

The brunette sat up as much as he could, eagerly slipping an arm around Cas’s neck again. He paused though, resting his other hand on the dark haired man’s chest.

“Actually.” He met that crystal blue gaze. “The tub’s not really big enough,” he said quietly, glancing at the door. No Dean yet. He looked back at Cas and shrugged. “There’s a lake not too far from here.”

"Oh..." The angel's look seemed less troubled now, more fond. Maybe it was because Sam was getting so close to him. Was this really the magic item at work, though? "It doesn't seem safe for you to go outside right now," he added finally, looking down at Sam's tail. 

No. He couldn’t go back in the tub. He needed open water. Sam wanted to swim. Grabbing Cas’s chin, he turned the angel’s face back to him.

“Please,” he said. To his shock, the sad expression on his face wasn’t fake. The idea of being locked up in the bathroom broke his heart. “Please, Cas,” he whispered, shifting to tighten his arm around the angel’s neck.

Cas met his eyes, and his brows pinched sadly. 

"Sam..." He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he put his arms around Sam and stood, picking him up. Back into the tub it was, then.

Cas turned them toward the door, though, and headed out into the hallway.

“Where are we going?” Trying not to get his hopes up, Sam lay his head against Cas’s shoulder. The lake wasn’t far — and it wasn’t like he could swim away in a lake, so Dean wouldn’t be too pissed.

Hopefully.

The angel paused at the end of the hallway, peeking around the corner to make sure Dean wasn't out there before crossing the room. 

"...The garage. The lake isn't near enough to walk to."

Sam also glanced around for his brother. It vaguely crossed his mind that them sneaking away was probably another violation of trust. Maybe they should just tell Dean where they were going? It wasn't like he’d have a good reason to stop them. He seemed to want to exclude Sam from the research anyway. Sam frowned. Research was his thing…

It didn't take them long to reach the garage, and without a sign of Dean, either. He was probably downstairs reading the books in the basement for any reference to an item that turned people into mermen. 

Cas paused beside a shiny classic blue hardtop Chevy, placing Sam carefully on the ground beside it. He paused with a hand on the brunette's shoulder, looking at him worriedly. 

"Are you sure you can be away from the water long enough to drive there? I could still return you to the bath," he said quietly, as if Dean could somehow hear him from here.

“I’m good, just…” Sam sighed, sitting up his elbows. “We should tell Dean. The trust around here has been a little…unsteady. I’ll wait here — just tell him where we’re going first.”

A guilty look at the floor told him Cas was aware that Dean would disapprove. That usually made him reconsider doing things, but he wasn't exactly protesting about this.

"Dean would stop us," he said, sighing and standing to pull off his trench coat. Cas without the trench coat was a rare sight; it was weird. He carefully placed the coat over Sam's tail like a blanket, then scooped him up from the floor again.

Latching an arm around the angel’s neck, Sam felt himself blush. Did Castiel just seriously choose him over Dean? That was really weird. It was weird enough to snap Sam out of whatever water-starved haze he was in.

“Wait.” He said, sitting back to meet Cas’s gaze. But the bathtub was so small. He reached to touch the scale around his neck thoughtfully. No, the lake was better. Smiling tightly, he looked away from those blue eyes and nodded. “You’re right, but we should tell him after we get there.”

"I'll call him," Cas promised, placing him carefully into the passenger seat of the car. The soft carpeting felt odd and foreign on his fins; it would have felt nice on bare feet, but it was so dry right now. 

Cas climbed into the driver's seat, started the car, and drove out of there without even looking back.


	3. Freedom

Sam watched the scenery roll past out the window. He felt almost giddy. The lake. He hadn’t been out swimming in forever. Usually it was for a case and something inhuman lurked in the water. The tall brunette looked down at the trench coat on his lap, wiggling his fins again. It felt weird — but somehow…right.

They hadn't passed any cars on the road. The weather was a bit dreary, with overcast clouds and a tiny sprinkling of rain dotting the windshield. 

"Are you cold?" Unlike Dean, Castiel didn't turn on the radio. He kept his eyes on the road, and spoke carefully, like it might distract him. It occurred to Sam that he had only learned to drive very recently.

“I’m good,” Sam assured Cas, watching him. The cold didn’t bother him at all. He felt better than he had in years. But he wouldn’t if they crashed. He shifted, resting an arm on the back of Cas’s seat. What could he say? Was talking just going to distract Cas worse?

"Sam..." The angel chanced a very quick glance at him, then looked back at the road. Was he blushing? "You should stay down...in case we drive past someone."

“Don’t look at me,” Sam blurted out, cringing at the way the car swerved a little when the angel’s eyes weren’t on the road ahead.

Cas cringed a little, too, slowing the car down. 

"I-I'm sorry. We're almost there," he promised, looking for the right road to turn off. 

“Sorry, I just don’t want us to crash,” Sam said apologetically. He hadn’t meant to sound so snappy. 

Leaning to look out the window, he casually checked the rear view mirror just in case. The lake was so close. Cas had driven himself around for quite awhile — Sam just had to have faith.

"I wish I could have just flown you here," the angel told him wistfully, pulling the car up in the gravel pull-off near the lake. 

This was probably private property; there wasn't any parking area down by the water, and there certainly weren't any people down there. Maybe that was the weather's fault, though.

Castiel had stepped around to Sam's side of the car before he could observe much more, and was opening the door for him. 

Sam looked out at the lake, his heart fluttering with excitement. He dove into the angel’s arms, hugging around his shoulders happily. The water was right there! He could probably just crawl to it, but Cas had taken him this far. The rain didn’t bother him at all, but he couldn’t help taking note of the way that it made the angel’s shirt cling to his skin. Could Cas get cold?

If the rain bothered him, he didn't show it. He hugged Sam close to his chest, abandoning the trench coat where it had fallen on the ground beside the car, and turned to carry him down to the water. The lake started out shallow, and apparently Cas didn't want to make him crawl through it, because he stepped out into the water with Sam until they were at chest height. He stopped there, though, and still held onto Sam carefully like he could fall. 

The water rippling around them only added to Sam's excitement. He looked at Cas and smiled.

“Thank you,” He said honestly, giving the dark haired man a quick hug.

Cas hugged him tightly in return. 

"Sam..." He sounded like he wanted to say more, but instead sat back enough to look at the brunette with sad blue eyes. "You're welcome." Reluctantly, he loosened his grip around Sam's waist, letting go of him.

Sam plunged down, pressing both palms to the gritty lake bottom. He rolled to look back at the angel through the rippled surface. Pushing off the base, he broke through the water to smile up at Cas. He was already wet — so Sam grabbed the front of Cas’s shirt and pulled him down into the water. His angelic friend had probably never been swimming for fun. Who knew what was at the bottom of the lake — but they were going to find out together.

Cas grabbed onto his arms with both hands, surprised at being pulled under. Luckily, angels didn't actually need to breathe. The water made his dark hair float around his face, and his eyes somehow looked even more blue beneath the surface. As interesting as their surroundings were, the look of wonder the angel wore was aimed at Sam instead.

It dawned on Sam that Cas had never called Dean. He let go of the angel, swimming a circle around him. Gliding through the water was like flying. Gleefully, he grabbed Cas around the waist and pulled him along back to the surface. He let the angel go as they surfaced, spinning and twirling around him again. He popped back up to smile at Cas, swiping his hair back. The joy he felt was quickly starting to overwhelm him. He was so happy, he felt like he owed the angel for granting him the freedom of the lake.

Spitting out the mouth full of water he had somehow breathed in, Sam rested his hands on the angel’s shoulders to steady himself.

“Thank you. God, I-I just…thank you.” He managed, glad that the rain would disguise his tears.

The rain had started coming down heavier while they were beneath the surface. Big drops plunked into the water around them, plastering Cas's hair down to his forehead. He smiled at Sam in an almost tearful way, himself, and rested his hands over the brunette's own.

"I-I'm glad to help."

His hands were so cold. It didn’t bother Sam. The chill felt nice.

The brunette’s smile faded a little. Cas’s expressions were so pure. Just like the water around them. Freeing a hand to brush the angel’s hair back, Sam wrapped Cas in another hug — rolling them below the surface again. They were in shallow water, so Sam brought them down to rest on the bottom. He held Cas to the ground since he seemed to float more than the brunette did. 

Sam glanced up at the surface just above him, blowing a bubble to cause yet another ripple on the lake. He was never going back to the bunker. No way. It just didn’t compare. It was dry and claustrophobic. Turning back to look at the angel, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. If Cas didn’t need to breath, why were they still by the shore? There was an entire lake to explore! He grinned.

Cas gazed up at him like he was something profound, studying his face and his hair floating through the water. The angel brought a hand up to touch Sam's face, slipping the other arm around his waist. He seemed perfectly comfortable being underwater.

A little surprised at the arm around him, Sam wished that Cas could speak underwater too. He slid his arms around the angel and lifted him lightly — washing them up on the shore. Blinking to clear the water from his vision, Sam smiled at Cas again.

“Do you have to go back to the bunker?”

Castiel sat up, looking a little dazed. 

"I..." He glanced around him at the gravel shoreline, then back to Sam longingly. "No. I told Dean that I would watch you," he reasoned. "But I should call him."

Nodding, Sam rolled off back into the water. He made a little circle and crawled back up to lay beside the angel.

They just had to check in. That was it. Then they could go swim, Sam reassured himself.

Cas slowly sat up, wiping wet hair out of his face. The rain was still coming down hard, rinsing off whatever sand had stuck to his shirt. 

He almost stood up, then hesitated, turning to look at Sam beside him.

"Will you wait here for me?"

His blue eyes looked so hopeful that it was clear he didn't assume Sam would stay there by default. He hoped so, but there was obviously some thought that the brunette would swim away while he was gone.

“Sure,” Sam said with a warm smile, humming and trying to get his hair to stay out of his face. To be fair, he was laying on his stomach, so gravity wasn't helping the matter.

It wasn’t like he’d leave Cas. The phone call would only take a minute. Something reflective caught Sam’s eye, though. Something down the shoreline on an old dock. He frowned at it. Okay, maybe he’d go check it out while the angel was on the phone…

Cas smiled at him and got to his feet, heading quickly back to the car. The phone would get wet if he called Dean out in the rain, so he'd probably have to stay in the car for a few minutes.

Watching him go, Sam flipped back into the water and paddled. He could move so fast! Flying over to the shiny thing, he could see it was a metal box. An older man in fishing garb was sitting next to it—

He threw something into the water! Sam bobbed up and then dove to grab whatever it was. He reached and clasped it happily in his hand.

Red puffed out into the water and he flinched at the sudden razor sharp pain cutting into his palm. An unusual panic set in as he tried to retreat back across the lake. He had to yank with all his might to get free. A large splash followed and he spun to see the older man’s shocked expression. He looked like he’d seen a monster.

Tearing the fishing pole from the man’s hands, Sam shot off into the safety of the depths.


	4. Silver

The Impala growled to a stop on the gravel pull-off beside the lake. It was pouring rain, and Dean's mood was just as stormy. He'd been in the middle of a ridiculously old, dusty book about sea monsters when Castiel had called him to inform him that he and Sam were not even in the bunker anymore.

Right after Dean had that ten-minute conversation with him about keeping Sam SAFE and in the bathtub. Well, in water. The lake counted as water, but it didn't count as safe, damn it.

The powder blue classic Chevy was a good clue this was the part of the lake they were at. Dean hopped out of the Impala and promptly got pelted with rain as he headed down toward the water. 

How long had he left them alone before they took off? Like twenty minutes? Maybe Sam was right, and Cas was acting off after all. 

He stopped and blinked at the angel's trench coat, left laying on the ground beside the blue car. Great...did they go skinny dipping? Technically, Sam was already naked. Okay, not helpful thoughts... There weren't any other discarded clothes as he made his way down to the water.

Cas sat there on the ground by the water, completely soaked with rain and with his back to Dean. 

"Cas!" Dean hurried over next to him, scowling out into the water. "Where is he? Hey, Sam, party's over!"

"He's gone." Cas's tone made him stop. The angel looked like he might be crying. What the hell? How much trouble could they have possibly gotten into in the ten minutes it took Dean to drive there...

“No, he stole my damn fishing pole! He tried to drown me!” He heard someone yelling. Just down the shore from them was an older man. He was soaked and looked royally pissed, screaming into his phone. “No, not tomorrow — I want a cop down here right now!”

He sputtered angrily and tapped the bottom on his phone. “Oh, I’ll file a report you bastard…”

Dean exchanged a glance with Cas, raising his eyebrows. The angel, meanwhile, scrambled to his feet and took off down the shore in the direction of the fisherman. Without a whole lot of other options, Dean ran after him. 

"Cas! Hey!" Where exactly did he plan to look, under the dock?

The man saw them coming and scowled darkly. He turned and started towards a Jeep parked by the tree line. Maybe he wasn’t in a talking mood.

Dean skidded to a stop by the fisherman's spot, glancing after him. He heard a splash, and turned back to find that Cas had dived into the water. Great. 

"Damn it, Sammy..." Taking a few steps back, Dean took a running start at the water and dove in as well, swimming after the angel. Sam could probably move really fast with that fish tail, but Cas was human-shaped. In theory, he'd still be around to follow. 

Hopefully.

The lake was surprisingly clear. Fallen trees laid along the bottom, half hidden by weeds and mud.

Much more surprising was the classic Volkswagen Beetle sitting not too far from the dock. Its windows were all busted out, but it was otherwise in pretty good shape. A new looking fishing pole lay nearby — bent in half. A shimmer of silver from within the bug told Dean that he should check it out.

Frowning, he popped up to the surface just long enough to take another big breath of air, then dove back down. He'd been wrong about Cas — the angel was nowhere in sight. Maybe he'd headed for the Volkswagen, too.

Kicking and paddling, Dean swam down to the car and grabbed the top edge of the door frame to keep from floating away, leaning down to look inside.

Sam looked back at him, hazel eyes wide. He was curled up in the back seat with the fins of his tail laying over the driver’s seat.

Sure enough, Cas had beaten Dean there. He was in the passenger’s seat.

Dean noticed that a thin string was tangled around his brother’s arm and tail — as well as a large fishing hook embedded in his hand. A light trail of blood swirled out into the water as Sammy pushed off the back seat and paddled awkwardly to meet Dean at the door.

Oh, right. Cas didn't need air. That made him the only person in the lake with a time limit. Dean pointed up at the surface several times, then let go of the car and paddled for the air. Hopefully they got the message to follow him.

Well, now the fishing pole phone call made sense. 

Sam darted after him, scooping him up and pulling him to the surface. He popped his head up and sputtered out a mouthful of water.

“Dean, what are you doing out here?” He said after a moment, bobbing as he fought to stay above the surface.

"What — really?!" Dean coughed a little, paddling out of his grip and turning back to scowl at him. "You guys weren't supposed to leave the damn bunker! I TOLD Cas that!"

The angel surfaced beside Sam, turning to examine his hand in concern.

“You didn’t expect me to sit in the bathtub?” Sam said with a snort. “It’s not like I ran off — it’s just the lake.” He sank suddenly, then resurfaced, spitting water out. “I’m fine.”

Cas lifted his injured hand, examining the fish hook and the line running down around his arm critically. 

Dean gestured to the hook, grumbling, "Yeah, obviously. Listen, the guy who tried to fish you out called the cops, so we need to have this conversation elsewhere."

"Sam should be angry, not him," Cas commented with a frown, holding Sam's injured hand.

“Is he okay? I don’t know why — but I completely lost it when I... He can swim, right?” Sammy asked guiltily, looking over at Cas with pinched eyebrows. 

"He's fine," Dean said dismissively, glancing around to locate the shore. They were a surprising way out; he had swam toward Sam without really thinking about it. "Look, we've gotta go."

"I can heal this once we take the hook out," Cas assured Sam, of his hand. 

“Really?” Sam said at Cas, retrieving his hand. He bobbed under and grabbed Dean’s arm — dragging him toward the shore at an alarming rate. His brother also had the angel in tow. It didn’t seem to bother him though. He slowed near the water’s edge and let them both go. Clenching the hook in his teeth, he tried to pull it out of his hand.

Dean splashed back over to him and grabbed his wrist. 

"Hey, hey! Jeez, man, what are you doing? Don't use your teeth!"

Castiel stepped onto the shore, then turned back to look at Sam worriedly. 

Sam looked up at him, completely surprised.

“Uh, sorry.” He blinked a few times and looked around as if he was coming out of a haze.

The sounds of tires on gravel barely cut through the pouring rain as a police car stopped down by the jeep. Its lights weren’t on, but it was definitely bad news.

Dean glanced up there, groaning. 

"Oh, c'mon..." He turned to Sam, trying to decide if hauling him to the car or letting him hide in the lake would be better. Obviously, the option that let them leave the lake was ideal, but somebody was bound to NOTICE a merman being lugged up the hill...

Cas didn't stop for any such thoughts — he scooped Sam up easily from the water and retreated back up the hill toward the oldie car and the Impala. The fisherman’s Jeep was parked a ways down the shore, so it would take them a minute to notice anybody else was there. Hopefully.

Sam looked like he wanted to protest, but wrapped his arms around Cas’s shoulders. He looked longingly out at the lake.

“Can I stay? Please,” he begged the angel, yanking on the bleeding hook in his hand. “I’ll stay out of sight!”

"You need some first aid," Dean told him pointedly, frowning at the way Cas actually slowed down at the request. What, did he do whatever Sam wanted right now? "And I'm not risking anybody catching you." 

Cas reached the Impala before him, and put Sam quickly but carefully into the back seat. He grabbed his trench coat and placed it over the merman before climbing into the seat beside him, closing the door. 

Dean hopped into the driver's seat and started the car, a bit weirded out that nobody called shotgun. Of all the things to find weird about today.

Sammy sat quietly staring out the window at the lake until it was out of view entirely. Even then, he pressed a bloody hand against the window. It left a gross red smudge on Baby’s window.

“Did you find a cure?” Sam finally asked, looking at Dean in the rear view mirror. He was clearly upset.

"I was working on that," Dean said angrily, glancing at the rear view mirror, "when Cas decided to call and tell me you two went on a little field trip. Seriously, what the hell? How did going for a drive while you're a freaking MERMAN seem like a good idea?"

"The bathtub was too small," Cas spoke up, hugging an arm around Sam's shoulders. It didn't work very well — even slouching a bit thanks to the fish tail, Sam was much taller than him.

“I can’t go back to the bathtub!” Sam protested loudly. “I was perfectly fine in the lake. It’s not like I’m lost at sea — it’s a closed space. You know exactly where I am — take me back!” Sam’s eyes changed. For the smallest second, Dean thought Gadreel was still in there — but it was silver, not blue. The same silver as the little scale around Sam’s neck. But Sam’s voice faltered, eyes tearing up. “Please Dean.”

The glowing eyes made Dean frown. No matter what Sam said right now, he reminded himself, this was a cursed item at work. It would probably make Sam do anything to do what the item was programmed to do. The question was, what did it want to do besides go swimming?

"I'm not gonna lock you up or something," he told his brother, sighing. "It's not safe back there with the cops, though, and we need to get that hook out. Cas, you know better than to take him somewhere with people. What were you thinking?"

"He was suffering," the angel replied immediately, frowning back. He did have that guilty look, though. Dean was positive he wasn't acting too weird to realize this stunt hadn't been very smart. Apparently he was just that willing to do anything for Sam right now. 

"He was in a bathtub, not a jail cell," Dean grumbled, rolling his eyes.

“I can’t even fit in the tub,” Sam grumbled, biting the fish hook again. His eyes flashed silver as he ripped it clean out of his hand.

The pain seemed to wake him up, though. He stared at his shaking, bleeding hand and let the hook drop out of his mouth.

“Ow,” he managed, looking back up at Dean in the mirror with a grimace.

Dean grimaced at the sight of the bloody wound, shaking his head. 

"We're five minutes from the first aid kit, you know."

The white-blue glow from the back seat told Dean Castiel had already taken care of healing the injury. When he glanced in the rearview mirror, he noted that the angel kept holding Sam's hand afterward, though. Great. He had to keep an eye on BOTH of them.

“Dean, you have to find a cure for this thing!” Sam said quickly, looking from Castiel to Dean. He shifted to lean between the seats. “You have to find some way to get this necklace off.”

Dean glanced quickly at him in the mirror, surprised at the sudden change in tone. Whoa — it was like there were two people in there. It was eerily similar to when Sam was possessed by Gadreel...or Lucifer. Ugh.

"I'm working on it, Sammy. Just hang in there, I'll get you to some water again soon, okay?" He pulled the Impala into the garage and killed the engine, getting out. 

Castiel didn't get out of the car yet, watching Sam to see what he wanted to do.

Sam turned and hugged an arm over the angel’s shoulders again, frowning sadly. The fishing line was still tangled around him and the hook was still attached to it. Great. Sam seemed to be back to sad though. Hell, he looked downright miserable.

Cas wrapped the trench coat closer around him and picked him up, stepping out of the car. He looked almost as sad as Sam did. 

"I'm sorry, Dean. I had to," he told the older brother glumly, carrying Sam past him across the garage toward the door to the main room. 

Dean followed, sighing. If the bunker had a swimming pool, this wouldn't be a problem. How were they gonna get the damned necklace to come off? The box had to be the key, right?

He had a lot more reading to do.


	5. Questions

Sam sat in the tub, shoulder-deep in nice cold water. It felt good, but he couldn’t summon a smile to save his life. The bathtub was uncomfortable and cramped. His tail hung out of the end. Cas had been nice enough to take the fishing line off, but it wasn't enough. Sam could vividly remember the feel of the rain and the lake. Even running his hand through the angel's wet hair was a treasured memory in his white ceramic prison. He rolled his head to stare at his angelic warden.

“What happened to lunch?”

Castiel looked up from the floor, where he'd been kind of glumly staring ever since sitting down on the chair beside the tub. He looked at Sam sadly.

"The panini? I think it's still out on the table," he sighed. "I can bring it to you."

Sam thought it over and nodded. He sank down to his neck, rolling slowly. But he sat up again and leaned on the edge of the tub.

“Um, Cas wait.” He reached a hand out toward the angel. “Can you take me to the table? I can’t even help in here.”

Cas reached and took the hand he was reaching with, squeezing it. 

"Of course, Sam. Will you be okay out of the water, though?" 

“I’ll be fine,” Sam reassured the angel, pulling him closer by the hand. “Just get me out of here.” 

Cas blinked and leaned closer, studying his face. It was such an intent, almost amazed look. His eyes were so blue. As cute as it was, it seemed he'd gotten distracted and forgotten to pick Sam out of the bathtub. 

Blushing at his mind using the word 'cute' in the same thought train as Cas, Sam cleared his throat and looked away from him.

“Come on.” He tried to sit up, but without legs, that was very hard. The brunette held up his arms toward Cas instead.

The angel put both arms around him, lifting him easily from the bath water and cradling him against his chest. He turned and started toward the hallway, water dripping from Sam's tail fins all over the floor behind them both. 

"Sam..." The angel glanced down at him as they walked, speaking softly. "I'm so sorry we had to leave the lake. I know it made you happy to be there."

Sam looked back at him, unable to avoid that soft blue gaze. Maybe soft blue wasn’t the right description. Denim? No… Sky?

"It made me happy," Cas continued sadly, "to see you so happy." He looked into Sam's eyes for a long moment, then hugged him a little closer. "I didn't want to take it away. I'm sorry."

“It’s okay,” Sam said, blushing again. “It’s not your fault that I got cursed.”

If he could even call it that. Cas was right — he had been so happy to just swim. The lake was paradise versus the tiny tub Dean had confined him to. He hugged the angel tightly in return. At least he could glare at Dean in the main room.

Cas said nothing in reply, but seemed a little flustered. Right before they got to the main room, Sam felt a little kiss being pressed to his hair. The angel made no comment about it, stepping out into the main room and crossing to the wingback chair Sam had been eying earlier. 

Dean glanced at them as they stepped inside, raising an eyebrow. Probably at how much Cas was blushing. 

"Sure you're okay out of the water?"

“Just give me a book. Did you find anything yet?” Willing his cheeks to stop being red, Sam was happy to be out of the bathroom at least. But he was really worried about what might be going through his brother’s mind. Sure, Cas was carrying him around — but that didn’t mean anything.

Or at least Sam had thought so until that little kiss.

The angel placed him gently in the chair, patting his shoulder. 

"Do you want a blanket?" 

Dean frowned and turned his focus back to the book he was paging through, shaking his head. 

“Yes. Thanks, Cas,” Sam told the angel with a small smile. It was all he could manage. Then he sighed and looked over the table of books. Which ones had Dean read already?

Cas nodded and went to get a blanket from one of the bedrooms. The main room really needed a comfy couch.

Dean stepped over and offered Sam a small stack of books, glancing after the angel as he left. 

"How'd you get him to go to the lake?" He asked, frowning. "What did you do?"

“I asked him,” Sam said with a shrug. He took the books and looked them over. There was a journal from a sea captain, a book on legends and some other less interesting options. He looked up at his brother. “Where’s the box?”

"Stashed in a bigger box with sealing sigils on it 'til we figure out how the magic on it works," Dean replied flatly, annoyed by his short answer. "It turned you back to human before, but as long as the necklace stays on it'll switch you back pretty quick. We need to figure out how to make it let go of you."

Cas returned with a soft green blanket, glancing at Dean unhappily as he put it on Sam's lap and tucked the sides in for him. 

"Dean, there has to be somewhere else with water where we can go safely."

Dean sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

"I'm working on it, Cas."

“I’ll be okay, Cas,” Sam told the angel, patting his shoulder. “Dean, I need to see the box. It must have some kind of marking on it or the Men of Letters wouldn’t have stored the necklace in there.”

"It doesn't," Dean said, crossing his arms. He glanced between Sam and Castiel, frowning slightly. "...Unless it's with invisible ink or something old-timey like that. I'll go get it and let you have a look," he sighed, heading for the basement stairs. "Stay put."

Cas looked at the books Dean had been reading. He'd left one open on the table.

“Give me that book.” Closing the book he had opened, Sam waved the angel over quickly. “I’ll bet he already found something.”

Cas picked up and book and handed it to him, looking at it worriedly. 

"It isn't about mermaids."

Indeed, the book was not. It was about cursed objects with...people's souls sealed inside?

Sam paged through it, frowning. Did Dean think he was possessed or something? He didn’t feel like it. No memory gaps or anything like before.

"Dean will be back soon," Cas warned, glancing at the basement stairs. He turned to Sam again guiltily. "He's trying to help. Don't you want him to?"

“Yes,” Sam said hesitantly, brushing his thumb over the scale. Dean was worried. If the roles had been reversed, Sam would have wanted to help Dean — if he actually wanted help.

The idea of swimming made him so happy. Everything that had happened to them over the past years seemed so much less painful when he was in the water. It was like it muffled out all the bad memories.

He sighed heavily and stared at the book pages. Staying as a merman sounded amazing, but who would fight the demons? The angels? He had been ready to leave before, but this was different. He wasn’t dying — he was just going off to float around in a lake. That wasn’t fair to Dean.

Cas looked at the book, too, frowning. 

"This is odd, but it doesn't seem harmful," he pointed out. Before he could say any more, though, Dean arrived with the little wooden box the necklace had been in.

"Okay...maybe it's not symbols on the box," he told Sam. "Maybe it's what the box is made out of."

“Do you think I’m possessed?” Sam asked, holding the book up for Dean to see. “Do I seem possessed?”

His brother stopped short and glanced down at the book, frowning. 

"No, I don't think so. There's a few things that remind me of it, though," he admitted. "Cas isn't the only one who's a little off here." 

Castiel glanced at him, frowning. 

"I'm fine, Dean."

“Cas? Cas is fine.” The younger Winchester sighed. He held a hand out to Dean. “Let me see it.”  
What about him reminded Dean of possession? Was he acting weird?

A bit suspiciously, like he had some ulterior motive for asking, Dean placed the box into his hand. 

"Sure."

Flinching as he suddenly had legs again, Sam groaned. Right. It made him turn human.

Wait. He WAS human. It turned him BACK into a human. Frowning at the little box, he opened the top and looked inside.

Thank god Cas had given him a blanket — the bunker suddenly felt like the arctic. Seeing him shivering, the angel frowned and retreated to get more blankets from the bedroom. 

"Okay." Dean crossed his arms, watching Sam intently. "Anything else change besides the fish tail deal? You feel any different in your head?"

“I just remembered that I was human.” Sam looked up at him seriously. He looked after where the angel had gone and then back to Dean, lowering his voice. “I think Cas is more affected than I am. D-does he seem...you know.”

Dean glanced after the angel, too, shrugging. 

"Seems like all he cares about right now is you," he said frankly. "I mean, he apologized for driving you off to the lake, but he still DID it, Sam."

“I know.” Sam nodded. “He’ll do whatever I want him to right now.” Wow. That sounded a little ominous. He frowned and poked at the box. It wasn’t like they had ran off without telling Dean — Cas called him.

After they'd already left.

Cas returned and added two more blankets to the first one on Sam's lap. Satisfied that the brunette wouldn't freeze, the angel turned to Dean and asked, "Can we order food? Sam didn't get to eat the panini before." 

"Uh...sure, knock yourself out," Dean told him, shrugging. "There's a list of places on the fridge you can call — just remember which one, because I have to go pick it up when it's done." 

“Can we have sushi? Please?” Sam called to the angel. Hey. If he did whatever Sam wanted… 

The brunette turned his attention to the box. The inside was lined with soft blue cloth. Maybe there was something under it?

“Can you hand me a knife?” Sam asked his brother.

Dean was giving him a weird look. He shrugged and grabbed a knife off of the table. It wasn't one of the many weapon-type knives they owned, but a table utensil, and Sam concluded Dean had probably been using it earlier to cut up the panini. 

"Isn't it a little weird and creepy to want to eat sushi right after you had a fish tail?"

“Whoa. You’re right.” Sam stared at him and cringed. “Pizza?” 

“Cas, Sam wants pizza!” Dean called in the kitchen’s general direction.

Sam worked the knife around the inside edge of the box, peeling the cloth back. There were no symbols or marks under it though. The box seemed to be completely unmarked. How was it able to hold a magical item inside?

Then again, it had been broken when Sam picked it up. He offered it back to Dean.

“Maybe the necklace is the only magical part.”

Taking the box back, Dean turned it over and looked at the bottom dubiously. 

"There has to be some trick to it...because the box is the only piece that makes you turn back to normal," he pointed out. "Maybe it's the box and the necklace together that do it, though. Maybe you have to touch them both at the same time."

He scowled down at the box, placing it on the table. "Guess you can't help touching the necklace when you're wearing it, though. Listen, if there's anything else you wanna say without Cas around, now's the time. I don't have any other excuses planned to get rid of him."

“I think he’s gay,” Sam said quickly. He grabbed the scale necklace again. It was soothing to the touch. He sighed in relief. So Castiel seemed to like him. That wasn’t so bad. 

"Okay?" Dean was looking at him weirdly again. "Uh...why, is he hitting on you or something?" Cas was a bit weird in general, and didn't have a great grasp of personal space. He was definitely acting weirdly even for him lately, though. 

“Yes,” Sam said with a nod. “And I, uh, I sort of…went along with it at the lake,” he admitted, looking anywhere but at Dean. “We were in the water and it was awesome. I felt so happy and he was there…” He trailed off, reliving those moments. Swirling in the water with Cas felt like some of the happiest moments in his life.

"Sounds...nice..." Dean picked the box off of the table and looked at it, trying to look nonchalant — which guaranteed he wasn't that comfortable discussing this. Being vague here probably left things up to his imagination. 

“I’m not gay, Dean,” Sam clarified. “You don’t have to worry about it. I just think that this whole merman thing is having some kind of effect on Cas. Like when sirens trick sailors and drown them.”

Ugh. Bad comparison. Sam thought glumly. He didn’t want to hurt anybody. Singing sounded kind of fun, though.

Dean glanced at the door to the kitchen with a small frown. 

"That makes way too much sense. Good thing he can't drown," he added dryly, turning back to Sam. 

“I’m not going to drown anyone,” the brunette grumbled. “Water just makes me really happy and I’m making Cas gay — other than that, I feel normal. I’m not sure we need to find a cure.”

"You so sure Cas wasn't already gay?" Dean said drolly, sitting the box on the table again and crossing his arms. "Usually he's immune to the weird mind-altering spell stuff that hits us mere mortals — wonder who decided this necklace needed enough power to take out an angel?"

“Women love him and he seems to like them back, so... I don’t remember seeing him ever hit on a guy before,” Sam pointed out. Then again, Cas didn’t really hit on the women either. He was just too awkward. As for the necklace working on an angel, it made Sam wonder.

“Do you think this works on demons, too?” He asked, glancing at Dean.

"Good question," his brother said, raising his eyebrows. "Most of the mermaid books mention singing. Wonder if you get more mojo if you're singing?"

Castiel returned from the kitchen, taking a seat in Dean's chair at the table without comment. He still looked a little glum.

“I don’t know.” Sam said, glancing at Castiel. He’d give it a try on the angel, but it would be hard to tell if it had any effect. Cas already seemed to be smitten with him. The brunette blushed at the thought. He cleared his throat. “Maybe we should try it on someone? Like a normal person.”

"Like that guy at the lake?" Dean shook his head. "If it doesn't work, how exactly do we explain it to him?"

"Explain what?" Cas turned to them, looking at Sam in particular. They hadn't said they were talking about singing since he'd come back from the kitchen.

“Singing. Mermaids – er, and mermen – are supposed to be able to enchant humans with their singing. We’re just wondering if I can do that,” Sam explained, standing up and carefully wrapping the blanket around himself like a towel. He joined Cas at the table and sat a hand on the box. It made more sense to keep his legs at the moment.

The angel glanced up at him. 

"I see. Are you going to sing to me, Sam?" He sounded more curious than concerned. 

Dean looked at the box under Sam's hand, crossing his arms again. 

“Uh, no,” Sam said quickly, scooting the box over closer. “I don’t think I need to, you seem a little off already. Plus I’m in human form right now so I don’t think that it’d work.”

Cas blushed faintly, turning his blue eyes to the box instead. 

"Maybe not."

"Okay..." Dean took a deep breath, stepping over to look at the box, too. "Have you tried taking the necklace off while you're holding the box?"

“No.” Sam tucked the box under his arm and clumsily undid the necklace. He stared at it on his palm, tilting it so that the light caught the shiny surface. “I didn’t think of that.” He carefully tucked it back into the box and closed the lid. Reaching up a second later, though, his fingers found that the necklace had reappeared around his neck again. He sighed and looked up at Dean.

"That seemed too easy," his brother admitted, shrugging. "There's got to be some trick to it. Maybe what the necklace is made of is the key..." 

He paced a few times by the table, brows low. "...I'm gonna go dig up some more books from the basement. There has to be something. Tell me when the food's here," he told Sam and Cas, turning and heading for the basement stairs.

“Hey!” Sam yelled, hurrying after him. “I’ve got legs right now, let me help.” He dropped his voice to barely a whisper. “Why do you keep trying to leave us alone?”

Dean blinked, glancing at Cas briefly. He frowned at Sam. 

"I've got to figure out a cure for this thing — it's not my fault he's practically glued to you right now," he whispered back, annoyed.

“Fine.” Sam groaned. “Just don’t take too long.”


	6. A Test

Squaring his shoulders, Sam returned to the table in defeat. It wasn’t Dean’s fault. He was trying to help. It wasn’t the angel’s fault either — it was Sam’s. He was the one who found the necklace and got cursed. He sighed and poked through one of the books on the table.

Cas was doing basically the same thing, looking at an old picture of a mermaid in one of the books. He leaned an elbow on the table, propped his chin up on his hand, and sighed. 

"I don't understand the urgency. Dean acts like you're dangerous this way."

Sam shrugged a shoulder. He didn’t feel dangerous. But thinking back on how excited he had been to drag Cas into the water with him… What if it had been Dean? Would Sam have noticed?

He took a steadying breath and tried to brush off the horrifying thought of drowning his own brother.

"You haven't hurt anyone," Cas continued, turning to looking up at him thoughtfully. "You seem happier this way than you were before, if Dean would let you be."

“No. Dean’s right. I’m not supposed to be a merman,” Sam said with a sad smile. “I’m not even that big of a fan of swimming. Not until I put on this damn necklace.” He pinched it in his fingers and frowned. “I’ve got better things to do.”

"You mean you have responsibilities," the angel corrected him, looking bothered by the sad smile. His blue eyes returned to the picture of the mermaid, in the water singing to a passing ship full of sailors. "You can't abandon those things, but...couldn't you be happy for a little while before going back to them?"

“It doesn’t work like that, Cas.” Sam sighed, patting the angel’s arm. He scanned through the book in front of him for anything remotely useful. “Let’s just focus here. Anything interesting in there?” 

"It says that mermaids drown men who get too close." The angel glanced at the basement steps. "...The stories mention hair combs often, but never a necklace like that one."

“Hm,” Sam said, turning a few pages. Dean had probably been over all of these books by now. “Maybe we just need to break it. Like, smash it with a hammer or throw it into a fire. I don’t know.” He closed the book and sat it aside.

Cas watched this, then looked at him instead. He was about to say something when Dean returned with an armload of big, old hardcover books, plunking them down on the table. Dust puffed up from the stack.

"Okay! Research, round three, fight," he grumbled. 

“I think we should try to destroy the necklace. We can’t find anything about the box, the necklace just reappears if I take it off and the Men of Letters didn’t seem to know that it existed.” Sam sat a hand on the stack and sighed. He turned to look up at his brother, gesturing to the kitchen. “Let’s try to burn it.”

Dean held up his hands. 

"Okay, let's not get too hasty, here. It's linked to you, Sam — what if destroying it kills you? I'm not gonna risk that."

"The food should be ready to pick up now, Dean." Cas still didn't seem particularly interested in fixing the issue. 

Sam looked from Dean to Cas. Wow. He actually hadn’t eaten anything all day. Food sounded really good. Fire and destruction could wait.

“Did you wind up ordering sushi or pizza?” He asked the angel.

"Pizza," Cas admitted, glancing at him. "Dean said that’s what you wanted."

Dean ran a hand through his hair, looking around at the stacks of books on the table. 

"...You guys gonna be okay if I run and get the pizza? You're not gonna try anything crazy to get the necklace off?" He seemed concerned that Sam would still try the burning thing.

“No.” Sam kept his eyes on Cas, shaking his head stiffly. It would be easy to find out if the scale was linked with him. They just needed a hammer and a nail…

The angel met his eyes, tilting his head slightly. He turned to Dean. 

"We'll just read the new books, Dean. And I'll put him in the bathtub if he changes back," he promised.

"Okay. Stay put, just relax. I'll be back in like half an hour," Dean told them both, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair Cas sat on. Pulling it on, he did a last glance at both of them and rather reluctantly headed off in the direction of the garage. 

Sam watched Dean until he disappeared out of the door, then got up. Half an hour was plenty of time. He snagged the box from the table and made his way to the kitchen.

Castiel followed him. 

"Sam...wait."

“Hm?” Sam looked back at him, pausing by the stove.

"Dean's right. It's too dangerous." Cas stepped up beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Remembering abruptly that Sam's shoulder was bare at the moment, he quickly removed the hand and blushed. "It's not worth the chance."

“I’ll be careful,” Sam told him, putting a hand on the other man’s shoulder instead. “I’m just going to test something.” He turned and flipped the burner up as high as it could go.

Cas grabbed his hand. 

"Please. We...we need to talk, Sam. While you're still wearing the necklace." 

“About what? We don’t have much time.” Sam stared over at him and frowned.

"I heard you and Dean," Cas admitted, looking at their hands sadly. "Talking about me...and you." He seemed to be trying to come up with a tactful way to say 'and how you're not interested in me' and failing.

“Cas. You’re not thinking right. It’s the necklace.” Sam could feel his cheeks glowing as he swallowed nervously. What if it wasn’t the necklace? If Castiel actually had feelings for him, he wasn’t sure that he was ready to refuse him. It was Cas. Out of all the people in the world, he was one of the best in Sam’s eyes.

Sure, he’d messed up and almost destroyed the world — but so had Sam. The angel was always awkward and weird and a downright terrible liar, but there wasn’t a bad bone in his body.

He forced himself to look Cas in the eye as he asked, “Right?”

The angel avoided his eyes, though, placing his other hand over Sam's and focusing on it. 

"It isn't." 

He sounded sure. 

"Sam, I love you. I didn't think you cared for me, so I just...never said anything." The little chat with Dean confirmed that assumption. Was he so sure only because he was under the influence of the necklace, though? Would he snap out of it the minute Sam took the necklace off?

Most likely, Sam thought with a sad smile, but he moved in and hugged Cas tightly. He couldn’t say it back. Not when it could just go up in smoke as soon as he was cured. There was only one way to find out. He had to get the necklace off for good.

The angel didn't seem to expect the hug; he hesitated a moment before returning it, but hugged Sam close when he did. 

"You don't believe me," he sighed, resting his head on the taller man's shoulder.

“I want to.” Sam sat back to look down at the angel sadly. “But we can’t believe anything we’re thinking until this necklace is gone. But if—” His voice caught, and he tried again. “If you still love me when it’s gone…” The tall brunette looked away from those blue eyes, hugging Cas close again.

"I understand." The reply was quiet. Cas patted his back and sat up, looking at him fondly. "It's okay. You should do whatever it is you were going to do, before Dean gets back."

Right. Dean would be back soon. Sam nodded a little, then leaned in to place a kiss on Castiel’s cheek. It wasn’t so bad that it would make them cringe later if they WERE under a love spell, but maybe it was enough to tell Cas that his confession wasn’t unwelcome.

Not that Dean would approve. Pushing the thought away, Sam turned back to the task at hand. He slipped his fingers around the necklace and yanked it free. The leather string made a snap.

Cas watched this, flustered at the little kiss. Again, he really hadn't seemed to expect Sam to do anything in response. 

"Please be careful."

Sam held the necklace out, moving it closer to the fire slowly. So far so good. He didn’t feel any warmer. With a shrug, he dropped it onto the burner. The cord smoldered, and then abruptly the entire thing was gone. Sam felt for it around his neck and frowned when his fingers closed around the smooth scale.

Cas had grabbed his arm when he threw the necklace on the fire, alarmed. Now, seeing that Sam was wearing it again, he sighed in relief and promptly frowned.

"That wasn't careful, Sam."

“If fire doesn’t work on it, maybe a spell will,” Sam said halfheartedly. He looked at the hand on his arm and then at Cas. 

“We better get back upstairs.”

The angel let go of him quickly, nodding and stepping toward the door. He paused there, looking back at Sam uncertainly. 

"You won't tell Dean what I told you, will you?"

“I won’t,” Sam promised, heading after him with the box still in hand. Once the necklace was off, they would just forget about it anyway. Sam was pretty sure that he was straight. Whatever was happening at that moment had be from the necklace, despite how real it felt.

Cas waited for him at the door, and they headed upstairs together.  


* * *

  
Sam didn't remember falling asleep, but the next thing he knew, he was waking up. It was dark, he couldn't feel his toes, and he was being picked up bridal style.

“Cas?” He asked groggily, reaching to touch the face of whoever was holding him. Had he passed out or something? Why did he have a tail again?

"Shh. Don't wake Dean," the angel said softly, carrying him...somewhere. He didn't seem to mind the hand on his face at all.

Sam’s heart skipped a beat as his thumb brushed over the angel’s lips. He wrapped an arm over Cas’s shoulders and hugged him.

He squinted off into the darkness, making out the vague shapes of furniture. Right… Dean got back, and they had had pizza. Everybody was reading books last he checked, and they must have fallen asleep. Except Cas, of course.

“Are we going to my room?” He whispered in the angel’s ear.

"I-I can carry you wherever you like." The whispering was definitely making Cas flustered. Pretty much instantly, actually. 

“My bed is, um, d-dry,” Sam managed in return, also feeling a bit flustered. As horrible as it was, the bathtub was his only option for water inside of the bunker. “Maybe the bathroom,” he added sadly, resting his head on the angel’s shoulder.

"Sam. Where do you want to go?" Castiel sighed, noticing the sad tone of voice. "I'll carry you anywhere. We could go back to the lake, no-one is there at night..."

Hugging him a little tighter, Sam closed his eyes. Anywhere. If he could go anywhere in that moment, he knew exactly where it would be.

“Take me to the sea,” he breathed against the angel’s neck. 

Cas hugged him a little closer, and Sam felt the nod against his hair. 

"Anywhere you want," he repeated softly, turning and heading toward the garage. 

Zero hesitation.

Sam blinked as they crossed into the garage. At least the lights were on in there. He looked around at all the shiny cars. Wow. They were beautiful. He really wanted to stop and run his hands over their glossy surfaces, but Cas had promised to take him to the ocean. There was no time for pretty cars.

The angel carried him over to the shiny black Impala, and for a second Sam thought they were going to take it. Cas stepped around it, though, and over to a soft yellow Ford instead.

Sam wanted to complain — why not take the Impala? — but it was still Dean’s car. They could drive to the ocean in any of the cars.

“Thank you for doing this,” he said, patting Castiel’s back. “I know it’s a really long drive.” 

Probably long enough that they would need to stop. His tail already felt a bit dry.

The angel stopped a moment, distracted by Sam's hand on his back. He looked down at the brunette and smiled softly. After a long moment, he seemed to remember where he was, because he turned and opened the car door, placing Sam in the passenger seat. 

"I'll drive carefully." 

Sam’s tail barely fit, but it was better than laying in the back seat. This way he could see out of the window — not that it was going to be much of a view with how dark it was still.

He waited for Cas to get in, suddenly unsure of what they were doing. One moment he would know exactly what he wanted to desperately do — then a wave of logic would wash over him.

It was almost a thirteen hour drive to the ocean. Dean was going to be pissed.

As he had before, Castiel took off his trench coat and placed it over Sam like a blanket before closing the door. He climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door, then glanced at Sam. 

"I'll call Dean when it's light out and let him know we're not in any danger," he assured the brunette.

Sam smiled tightly and nodded. Had it really shown on his face that much? Cas knew him really well. The idea of swimming in the ocean brought him back to his senses. There was nowhere else he wanted to be right then — and no-one else he wanted to go with.

He looked over at the angel and felt a strange calm. He was completely safe with Cas. No matter what happened, they would be okay. Dean was safe in the bunker, and they were headed to the best place on earth. He leaned back in the seat and smiled.

“Good idea. Let’s get going.”

Cas patted his shoulder, then turned and started the car. They were pulling out onto the road in just a few minutes, and on their way. The lake had seemed immense — the ocean would be endless.


	7. The Sea

Now Sam knew how a dog felt when it was locked in a hot car. He felt like panting. He didn’t want to alarm Cas or they might stop driving — but his throat was dry. Every breath was painful to inhale.

He rolled his head on the head rest and looked at the angel sadly.

“Cas. We’re going to have to pull over. I need water,” he rasped. His skin stung where it touched anything else, like it was sunburned or something. 

The angel glanced at him quickly, concern obvious on his face. 

"There isn't any water nearby to swim in... I'm sorry, Sam, I should have considered this before we left." He glanced around them at the road, then pulled the car into the exit lane, frowning. "The sign we just passed said that there is a gas station soon. They should have water."

The brunette looked out of the window. It was light now. They had driven for hours. He looked back at the angel and sighed roughly.

“It’s not your fault, Cas.” Sam felt like he should say more, but his mouth was dry. What he wanted to say was a mystery to him. The dark haired man had just gone so far out of the way to help him. Sam knew the curse was mostly to blame, but the way Cas looked at him…Sam really hoped that wasn’t from the scale.

They pulled into the parking lot of the gas station — a little "general market" type of place that happened to have a couple of gas pumps. Castiel turned and leaned close to Sam, picking his wallet out of the pocket of the trench coat on his lap. 

"I'll be right back," he promised, glancing at Sam from only an inch or two away before sitting back. It seemed hard for him to move away.

Sam reached after him, resting a hand on the nape of his neck. But if it was just the necklace making him act so affectionate…

He slid his hand down to the angel’s shoulder and patted it.

“I’ll be here.”

Cas glanced down at his hand, nodding quietly before getting out of the car. Was he disappointed? He seemed unhappy, but maybe that was just seeing Sam suffering without water. The angel disappeared into the gas station quickly, and Sam was left sitting alone in the car.

Sam tried to focus on breathing. Maybe thinking about lemons would make his mouth wet. He blushed as the idea of kissing Cas came back to the surface. No. That could not happen. There were so many reasons that could not happen! 

Dean, Cas being their only true friend that was still alive, and the whole Sam being straight thing. Though that was definitely on the fence now. Not that his brother needed to know…

“Right. Breath,” Sam mumbled to himself, cringing and sinking down in his seat.

A loud old-fashioned phone ringing sounded in the car suddenly. It was coming from the other pocket of Cas's trench coat.

Frowning, Sam dipped his hand inside and pulled the cell phone out. He flipped it open and held it to his ear. There was really only one person who could be calling Cas, but he waited for the caller to speak.

"You forgot something, Cas." Dean sounded pissed, but also maybe a little...hurt? He continued before Sam could reply. 

"And no, I don't mean 'telling Dean where the hell you're taking his brother', although that would've been frickin' appreciated. I wake up and gee, it's just me in this big bunker alone. Oh, wait, me and the box that turns Sam human again. He can't be out of water for long with the tail, Cas — where the hell are you? You're not at the lake, I checked!"

Sam swallowed before he replied, bracing himself for the fight that was sure to follow. He didn’t mean to hurt Dean and he definitely didn’t mean to make him worry. But there was no reason why he couldn’t go swim where he needed to be while Dean did the research for once.

“We’re going to the ocean, actually.”

"Sam!" Dean sounded startled. "Sammy, listen to me. You shouldn't be out of water this long — you sound raspy already. Where's Cas? If he cares what happens to you, he wouldn't drag you this far away from water!" 

“We’re going toward the water, Dean. Calm down,” Sam managed, taking a sharp breath. “Cas is buying me some water right now.”

"Why do you keep doing this? What, you don't trust me to help?" His brother sounded like he might be shuffling through items on the table. "I don't get it, Sam. You ASKED me to help you, and then you won't let me." 

“What? I trust you! It’s not like I’m stopping you by going swimming!” Sam wheezed. He leaned over the driver’s seat to look for Cas. Where was he with that water? Coughing dryly, Sam sat back into his seat again. His eyes widened. The beautiful shiny silver scales on his tail had started to dull over. A few were completely black and dry.

"Sam? Hey, you don't sound so good..." He barely noticed Dean talking, distracted by Cas returning to the car with gallon jugs of water in tow. He hurried around to Sam's side, opening the door. 

"Hold on, Sam. This was the most water I could find for you," he said worriedly, looking at the fading scales. He pushed one of the water jugs into the brunette's hands, opening the other and splashing it on his tail.

Dropping the phone aside, Sam wasted no time taking a large swig of water. Sweet relief! He then proceeded to dump about half of it over his head.

“Thank you,” he told the angel, swiping his now soaked hair back out of his face.

Cas reached and smoothed a stray lock of hair back for him, still concerned. 

"I'm sorry that took so long. Are you okay?" 

Sam nodded, grabbing the hand in his hair. The water felt amazing. He smiled up at the angel.

“I’m fine,” he said, remembering the phone. Grabbing it off of the seat, he pressed it to his ear. “Dean?”

"Sammy? Jesus — I thought you croaked over there!" Dean was right back to irate, but sounded relieved despite himself. "Is Cas back? Did he get you some water?"

Castiel only noticed the phone now, and tilted his head. He was probably wondering if Sam called Dean or the other way around.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sam hugged the half gallon to his chest. “Look, we’re on our way to La Porte in Texas. If you find a cure, let me know — but I have to be in the water, Dean. I don’t have a choice!”

"I'll bring you the box." Dean didn't have any more comment than that, because he hung up promptly afterward. 

Cas looked at the phone unhappily. 

"Dean's probably angry with me for taking you."

Sam tucked the phone back into the pocket of the now damp trench coat. He looked over at Cas and nodded.

“He’s mad at both of us.”

"He just wants to help." The angel sighed and tucked the coat around Sam a little closer. "I'll explain everything to him later. Right now, you need to be in the ocean."

He sat up, taking one of Sam's hands and squeezing it. 

"He can't understand." 

How did Cas? 

“I wish that he could.” Sam took a breath. If the necklace hadn’t been around his neck, he would have leaned over to give the angel a kiss. He looked into those blue eyes and sighed. “We…” The tall brunette mumbled, pulling his hand away. “We should get going.”

"Sam..." Cas looked down at his hand sadly. "...I should buy more water first. I'll be right back." He sighed and turned, heading back toward the gas station again.

Sam watched him go, heart sinking. Being a merman was wonderful. It felt like he could forget everything horrible in the world and live in complete joy — but not without Cas. 

He reached up to trace the magical scale with his thumb, brows lowering. As long as he kept the necklace on, the angel would be devoted to him. It could be just the curse making him be that way, but Sam would never have to wake up without him again. That thought was a comfort. 

But what if the real Castiel was fighting to escape? What if he didn’t have any feelings for Sam at all? 

Yanking the necklace free, Sam frowned at it in his hand. It was so beautiful. 

Was happiness really what he wanted if that happiness was fake? Did he really even want Cas, or was the scale playing with his mind, too?  


* * *

  
Sam could barely contain himself as they pulled up to the beach. It was right there! It was gorgeous! A little stormy, but amazing!

He tried so hard to wait for Cas, but ended up opening the door himself. Movement caught his eye down the beach – a couple walking hand in hand slowly down the pathway.

“Hurry,” Sam hissed at the angel.

Cas stepped around the car to his side, glancing back at the couple. They were still fairly far away, but within sight. Maybe they'd be distracted by each other, though. The water was so close...

Turning to Sam, Cas wrapped both arms around him, lifting him and the coat easily. 

"If they see us, we'll have to jump into the water," he whispered to Sam, glancing at the couple again before starting quickly down the path away from them. The water had a railing around it, but there were a few places with direct access to the beach. 

Sam hugged the angel close, keeping watch over his shoulder. The salty scent in the air was like a drug. It made him feel a little sleepy and giddy. He placed a kiss on Cas’s neck as a thank you. They made it. He’d be deep in the ocean soon!

The angel tensed at the kiss, glancing down at him. As with any affection Sam had shown him before, he seemed surprised. Not unhappy about it, though; he was blushing faintly.

They reached the ocean then, and unlike the lake, it was pretty deep right at the edge. Cas slipped the coat off of Sam, lowering him carefully into the dark blue water. 

Swirling down into the blessed ocean, Sam couldn’t stop himself from grinning. He felt a power well up inside of him. Never again. He’d never have to walk again. Cas had delivered him there. The least he could do was say goodbye.

The brunette gave one strong push of his tail and broke through the surface. He pulled himself up to Castiel again, climbing up to sling an arm around his neck and press a long overdue kiss to those angelic lips.

Though the little kiss before had surprised him, Cas didn't tense this time — he melted. Wrapping his arms around Sam's waist, he returned the kiss without any hesitation. There was a perfect moment where the warmth of his lips and the cold ocean were all that Sam knew...

...And then it was over. Cas ended the kiss first, hugging him tightly and hiding his face against Sam's shoulder. 

"I love you, Sam," he whispered, kissing his neck gently as well. "I know you don't believe it, but...th-thank you for this."

That couple had definitely seen them now. Sam’s mind barely recovered in time to see the woman gawking and pointing. He frowned at her and kissed Cas’s cheek one more time. Then he slid back into the water, looking up at that handsome face until it was blurred by the waves.

Maybe once he was gone, Cas would be back to normal. Then he could take care of Dean. At last, he let go of the angel’s arms and swam down into the depths.


	8. Blue

Something glossy caught Sam’s eye and he went to investigate, memories of the kiss already fading. It was just a penny in the sand. Sam could only be happy with a tail, and Cas would only be happy if he was back to his normal self. This was the only way, the brunette told himself again and again as he swam farther out to sea. He surfaced at last, looking back toward the land.

Castiel was still sitting there at the edge of the water, blue eyes gazing down into it. That was a heartbroken look if Sam had ever seen one, but he didn't seem surprised. He must have planned to bring Sam here even knowing that Sam would leave him once he could. 

The people on the shore who were still kind of staring and whispering among themselves, but the angel didn't even look at them.

Sam watched Cas for a moment. Was he really just going to leave? Maybe he could just live along the shore. In front of everyone walking by.

That same pang of uncertainty hit him out of the blue. What was he doing? He had to go back — he had to be cured! What about the demons? The angels? The monsters killing people every day?

Ducking below the surface, Sam shot back near the shore. The couple was still around. He frowned.

Circling very carefully, he pulled himself up behind the edge of the nearby dock. 

“Cas?” He said as quietly as he could. The angel should have been able to hear him anyway. “Wait.” The brunette moved a little closer, ducking back into cover as he noticed that the couple had a phone out to record. Oh great.

He couldn't tell if Cas had heard him or not. The angel stood sadly, pulling his trench coat back on and drawing the attention of the bystanders. Ignoring them, he walked quickly back toward the car — then out onto the dock. Maybe he had heard Sam after all.

“Cas?” Hoisting himself up the side of the dock, Sam craned his neck to see the angel. He grabbed the edge and pulled himself up to look over it.

Cas quickly knelt down on the dock, leaning to place a hand on one of his. 

"Sam. I thought you had to go..." He focused on their hands, eyes still sad. Sam had kissed him goodbye – as far as he knew, Sam was still leaving.

“I know,” Sam said, blinking as it started to rain softly. “I thought I was too, but when I got out there… I can’t leave. I want to. I think the necklace is doing it.”

It was the only logical reason he could think of. One moment he was ready to swim away forever and the next he was praying that Dean showed up with a cure.

He turned his hand over to hold Cas’s and looked up at him sadly. The angel still looked heartbroken.

“I’m so sorry, Cas,” he breathed, squeezing the hand in his. 

Castiel met his eyes finally, very sadly. 

"You can't help it." The rain pattered down, leaving dark spots on the shoulders of his coat. "I-I knew you wouldn't take me with you. I knew it back at the lake, when you didn't wait for me. You can't help it," he repeated, looking down at their hands again. 

“You aren’t thinking straight either,” Sam told him with a frown. “You think you’re in love with me and god, I want you to be. But we have to get rid of this necklace. Until then, we can’t be sure of anything.”

He knew it wasn’t what Cas wanted to hear, but Sam felt the strange calling of the sea coming back to him already. Being away from Cas would give him time to find a cure with Dean. If they couldn’t — Sam had to stay away. Despite the swirl of unhappy thoughts, the brunette held Cas’s hand tightly. He wasn’t ready to slip back into that hazy happiness just yet. Not when it hurt Cas like that.

The angel was looking at him with such hope shining in his eyes that it was hard to remember that it was only the scale doing it, though. 

"You want me to love you? Even once this is over?"

“I-I-” Sam stammered, cheeks darkening. Did he just say that out loud? The brunette blinked to clear the rain from his eyes and nodded. He forced himself to meet the angel’s sapphire gaze. “Yes, I do,” he admitted shyly. “But it’s okay if you don’t, Cas. I won't be mad.” 

‘Just don’t tell Dean’ was what he wanted to add. Cas had always sort of been his brother’s friend and guardian, not Sam’s. He wasn’t sure how Dean would react, so it was better safe than sorry. Especially if it all turned out to be bogus.

Cas seemed relieved to hear him say it. He smiled at Sam and shook his head. 

"No, I do. And I will after you're back to normal, Sam."

The tourists had retreated from the rain awhile ago, and they were alone there by the water. The waves made soft tones as they washed over the beach rocks.

Sam knew he couldn’t trust what Cas was saying, but he smiled up at the angel anyway. He let go of his hand and slid back down into the water, keeping his eyes locked on the dark haired man.

“Take your coat off.”

Castiel slipped the coat off of his shoulders without questioning it, leaving it laying on the edge of the dock. He turned back to Sam, looking down into the dark water around the brunette as rain quickly soaked through his white dress shirt. 

“Come with me.” Sam swam out a little bit and turned back to beckon Cas in with a smile. The water felt amazing. Like drifting through a dream — only now, he’d have Cas with him.

The angel returned his smile – such a contrast from the heartbroken look earlier on the shore – and stepped into the water without a second thought. He slipped beneath the surface briefly, but swam back up and toward Sam. The raindrops plunked loudly into the sea all around them, and it felt like they were the only people in the world. 

Sam glided over to take him in his arms, wiping the angel’s hair back carefully so he could look into those crystal blue eyes. The hum of the rain around them only helped him focus in on the man in his arms. The brunette sighed, leaning in to kiss Cas softly. He broke away and smiled.

“Ready?”

The angel blushed and looped both arms around Sam's neck, his face close as he nodded.

They sank below the surface, drifting far away from the sound of the rain and waves. Sam carried Cas along with him just as easily as the angel had been carrying him on land. A few fish scattered as they reached the sandy bottom. 

The brunette smiled and pushed Cas gently to rest on the seabed. It was so peaceful. He lay beside the angel, keeping him secure with an arm. Cas’s hair looked darker, his skin lighter, and those amazing eyes so much more blue than before. Sam hadn’t thought that was possible, but there it was.

Cas looked around them, but Sam, it seemed, was more interesting to him than anything else there. He studied the brunette's face, running a hand slowly through his hair as it drifted in the water. The way the sea muffled all sounds made time seem to pass more slowly. It really was dream-like.

Sam moved closer against him, placing kiss after kiss down the angel’s neck. He wrapped his arms around the dark haired man once more and kissed him like it was the last time he would be able to.

Nothing else mattered anymore. No monsters to slay. No secret wars to stop. Only them and the deep blue around them.  


* * *

  
It was dark by the time the Impala growled her way into La Porte's beachside parking. 

Dean had awakened to the empty bunker, checked the lake first, then called Cas. He'd gotten Sam instead. That had been, oh, ten hours ago. As pissed as he was about Cas taking off with his brother again, Dean knew that the cursed necklace was the real problem here, so he'd sped most of the way to the ocean with barely any stops.

Now, climbing out of the car, his stomach protested how long it had been since the last fast food drive-thru. Whatever. He'd find Sam and Castiel, shove them into the back seat, and take them to the nearest cafe. Or drive-thru. Whichever he found first.

Dean had had a lot of time to think about the situation during the drive, and he was pretty convinced that Sam was as off as Cas was. His brother had gone back and forth from asking Dean to help cure him to discouraging any attempt at a cure several times. He seemed more unstable when he was in the merman form. The box ought to take care of that, though.

Keeping a careful hold on the little square shape of it in his jacket pocket, Dean glanced up and down the beach. He'd come up with no ideas for how to pick which part of the beach Sam and Cas might be in — but it turned out he didn't need to. It was just a guess, but the dock ahead with a crowd of people clutching flashlights and recording with their phones just MIGHT have been where the merman and angel were... 

One of the people further away from the dock, a man in a rain coat, flipped on a floodlight and scanned over the shoreline with it. He noticed Dean and frowned.

“Come on dude. This is my spot!”

Dean stuck his other hand in his coat's pocket as well, shooting him a dubious smile.

"Relax, I'm not part of the riot over there." He paused, glancing down at the water. "Didn't realize the beach was so popular at night. What the hell's everybody looking at?"

“The mermaid. Duh.” The man groaned, rolling his eyes dramatically. “One dude said she drowned a guy!” He added, suddenly excited. The man moved closer to Dean, stopping shoulder to shoulder with him to whisper, “Have you seen the video?”

Well, that confirmed that. Although this video couldn't be THAT good or they would've noticed Sam wasn't a woman. Dean mustered a small laugh, nodding at the water. 

"Uh, no. No, I just got here, I haven't seen 'the video.' People fake videos all the time, though. It's gotta be fake. Mermaids aren't real," he added pointedly, still smiling.

The man waggled his eyebrows at Dean.

“This one is. I’m gonna catch her, man. I’ve got a boat coming in. It’s a deep sea rig.” He went back to his light and checked over the surface again. “I just can’t decide if I wanna sell her or keep her for myself.” He gave Dean a wink. Ugh.

The brunette crossed his arms, raising his eyebrows. 

"Wow. Sounds expensive. You're awful sure this mermaid's real, huh? Must've been a hell of a video. Did you film it, or...?"

He was going over the layout of the dock in his head. How the hell was he going to get Sam past all of these nutjobs? Were Sam and Cas even here anymore, or did they take off when the crowds showed up?

“Nah, some lady did. But I studied it. This attractive guy's like all sitting on the dock — then bam! The mermaid jumps up and pulls him off the dock!” The man came back over to Dean, pulling on very hardy-looking leather gloves. “The guy never came back up. All that’s left of him is his coat.”

The guy knelt and pulled out a radio, pressing the button. “Hey Brody! How far you out, dude? This crowd's getting hot.”

“Chad! We saw it! We saw the mermaid! Uh, man! The merman! It was all the way out here, bro.”

“Man?” The man next to Dean echoed disappointedly. “Did you catch it?”

“Nah man. He’s headed back to shore. Got a corpse with him too! Hella creepy, man!”

Chad looked at Dean, then pressed the radio button again.

“Dude. It’s a killer merman!”

Dean frowned, turning his attention back to the dark water. The "corpse" had to be Cas being dragged along...right? He really hoped that was the case. 

There were more immediate problems to consider. The idiot crowd was a minor problem compared to a freaking fishing trawler. Sam had been hurt by the fishhook in the hand earlier, so being a merman didn't give him any special levels of toughness, it seemed. 

And the guy on the radio just said Sam was on his way back to the beach, so whatever Dean was going to do about it, he didn't have much time. 

How to alert Sam and Cas to go to his part of the beach, though?


	9. Killer Merman

Dean gave Chad or whatever his name was a tight smile and glanced around him quickly. Maybe if he started the Impala, Sam would go for the headlights. Maybe he could blare Queen on the radio...

"Hey, you said the drowned guy's coat got left behind," he said suddenly, grabbing Chad's shoulder. "Where is it?" Cas would come back for his coat, probably. Hopefully. That was the only reason Dean could figure that they would even be approaching the shore with this many people around.

“Over there. Some lady in a red coat has it.” Chad nodded down to the dock crowd. He went right back to his radio, talking back and forth with his buddy about how much money they’d make.

But as Dean turned to head that way, he saw a glint off into the ocean. Something metallic? No. Silver and living. It had to be Sam. The glint dipped below the surface out of sight for a moment, then Dean heard a soft splash as something surfaced behind a rock. It wasn’t too far out from shore, but far enough from the dock that the crowd couldn’t see whatever was behind it.

Dean did his best not to stare in that direction in case it caught the idiots' attention, too. He hurried along the shore away from the dock, loudly whistling "Jessie's Girl." Maybe Sam would hear it and get the hint to follow along. Did mermen hear better than humans?

As he came closer to the rock, a familiar face poked around the edge of it.

“Dean?” Sammy asked in a whisper, his eyes glinting silver to match the scales on his tail. He smiled. “What’re you doing here?” He pushed off of the rock and swam closer, pausing under the surface to look up at Dean through the rippling water. Was he alone? Where was Cas?

Dean shoved his hands in his pockets, glancing quickly to be sure the crowd hadn't noticed Sam, then turned to his brother and replied quietly, "We've got trouble. See those guys over on the dock?" He nodded to the flashlight beams off that way. "They're all here lookin' for YOU."

Sam looked at them, eyes wide and curious. He seemed to understand Dean just fine despite being under the water. He stuck his head up, blinking to clear the water from his eyes. 

“They’ll never find me. The ocean’s huge. And amazing,” he added with a grin. A row of sharp teeth not unlike a vampire's poked out of his gums. 

Someone ran by to join the crowd on the dock, and Sam ducked back under the water, watching them pass with eerie silver eyes. He was still smiling.

The fangs were a tad unsettling, and that was coming from Dean — the guy who'd gotten turned into a vampire for a little while. He frowned at his brother, feeling the shape of the little wooden box in his jacket pocket. 

"Uh-huh. Where's Cas, Sam? What'd you do with him?"

Sammy glided back up to Dean, poking his face above the surface.

“He’s under the water. I didn’t want anyone to see him. We ran into a bit of trouble earlier with a boat. Cas healed me up though.” He did a little circle in the water before returning to Dean. “Do you want me to get him?”

"Yeah, get him," Dean sighed, glancing back at the crowd. 

Sam disappeared, the only sign of him being a silver glisten below the surface. He returned a moment later, the angel held against his side. The brunette swam close and then brought them both up to Dean.

“Dean wants to talk to you,” he told his angelic companion, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Castiel wiped wet hair back from his forehead, blinking water out of his eyes, and looked up at Dean guiltily.

"Dean. I'm sorry I didn't tell you we were leaving. I'm sure you're angry," he said quietly.

It was the same as he'd been at the lake — he knew his actions would piss Dean off, but he couldn't help doing them anyway. The brunette shook his head, glancing to check on the crowd again. 

"We can talk later. Right now you two need to get out of the water," he told them grimly. "There's a big fishing boat headed this way, and they're hunting for Sam."

Cas glanced at Sam worriedly.

“No way. I’m not leaving the water!” Sam looked between them and scowled.

“Dude, is that the merman?” Dean heard Chad call out to him. The crunch of gravel confirmed that the man was hurrying to him. “I’m recording! Get eaten!” He had his phone out and it was pointed their way. 

“Dean!” A cold hand slapped onto his wrist as Sam grabbed him. “Take Cas — you guys have to find a cure for this!” He was saying quickly. His eyes had turned back to their usual hazel.

Chad stopped dead once he finally saw Sam on his phone screen. His complexion paled a few shades in the dim light. 

“H-holy shit!”

Dean only had a few seconds to react. It was either knock the guy out from eight feet away, or... 

He turned and grabbed Sam's wrist, whispering, "Quick, pull me in!"

Shoving Cas under the water, Sam latched his arms around Dean and yanked him in. The water was surprisingly cold and it was practically black below the surface. They moved very quickly, though. Within what felt like ten seconds, Sammy was pushing Dean up next to the rock. He had apparently dragged the angel along too, because Cas was right beside him.

They could hear a burst of excitement on the beach as that bastard Chad announced to everyone that the ‘Killer Merman’ has struck again.

Dean checked his pocket to be sure the box was still in it, holding onto the rock since Cas had promptly hugged an arm around Sam's shoulders after they surfaced. The crowd was noisily moving their way, and flashlight beams were shining and waving on the beach and into the water nearby.

"Sammy. Listen to me," he whispered, turning to his brother. "We need to get out of the water. We need to get away from those people out there. They've got you recorded on video, you realize that?"

"They believe Sam drowned you," Castiel observed, frowning.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Sam hissed, leaning to look at the beach. A loud horn blasted suddenly as a light scanned over the other side of the rock. Sam sank down to his shoulders, hugging Cas protectively.

“What’s that?” The merman asked, watching the light pass. He swam to look, still keeping the angel close, and returned promptly. “Uh, there’s a boat out there. A big one.”

"Yeah. Fishing trawler," Dean replied, annoyed. Hadn't he just explained that a boat was coming? Sam had changed from the silver eyes back to his normal hazel since then, though. Did he even remember that comment from before? Was it like split personalities?

Cas hugged Sam in return, seeming a bit distracted and flustered. Well, at least HE was consistent about acting weird.

“For me?” Sam asked with a frown. “Are you serious? These people are nuts.” He looked back out and sighed. “It’s still pretty far out. What’s the plan?”

"I brought the box, so we just need to get to the car," Dean replied, glancing between him and Cas. "They got a few good looks at you, so going streaking isn't exactly an option — even with legs, they're gonna recognize you. And me. And probably Cas, since they think you drowned him too!"

“I didn’t drown him — okay, not important.” Sam pushed Cas up beside Dean and circled out a bit to survey the busy dock. “Jeez,” he muttered as he returned to them again. He rested an arm on the rock and sighed. “Well. Uh, what about like…singing?” He offered with a frown. “Don’t sirens do that to distract people?”

Dean glanced at Castiel, who was looking more concerned for Sam than anything, and nodded.

"Now we're talkin'. Every single book mentioned singing. I bet you could sing Pop Goes the Weasel and it'd still work."

"If it doesn't work, though, they will know where Sam is," Cas pointed out, blue eyes still focused on the merman. He drew a deep breath, like it was difficult to say, and added, "You should leave us if that happens, and get away."

Sam swam back to him, slipping hands up over the angel’s shoulders. He smiled slowly as he moved in and pressed a kiss to the dark haired man’s lips. For a moment it seemed like they had completely forgotten that Dean was there — but Sam broke away and blushed, sinking into the water again.

“Um, y-yeah. I will,” he promised Cas, rolling under the dark surface of the water. Without further comment, he vanished into the blackness. The trawler light swept over them again.

Castiel, Dean noted, was blushing as well. Man were they gonna be awkward when this whole merman thing was cured. He patted the angel's shoulder sympathetically. 

"Hang in there, buddy. He swims fast — he could outrun that boat if they don't go for the singing thing," he pointed out.

"I know," Cas replied quietly, sighing. He peeked around the side of the rock, trying to get a glimpse of where Sam had gone.

Dean peeked, too, but only after the lights from the boat weren't pointed their way. There was no reason why singing wouldn't work. Unless it was a merman vs mermaid thing. Most of the books he'd been able to find had been fixated on the feminine only (kind of like Chad.)


	10. Siren Song

Sam surfaced out in plain sight of the dock and the boat. There was a chorus of gasps from the crowd, and about a dozen cameras pointed his way. Sammy didn’t falter, though. He rested on the water on his back, paddling slowly and raising his voice. Dean didn’t recognize the tune at first, but after a moment the notes for Kansas’s ‘Dust in the Wind’ drifted over the ocean. Sam sang along softly, eyes glinting that eerie silver to match his tail. 

The crowd on the dock seemed to go calm. Many suddenly looked drugged, dropping their cell phones from loosened fingers. A 40-something dad type sat down on the dock’s edge and reached out a hand toward Sam as if he was within arms' reach. Sam swam up to the dock and clung to the side, continuing his song and reaching a hand up to brush fingertips with the man.

The song seemed to hum in Dean’s head as much as he could hear it, but he couldn’t pick out any particular effects it might have had on him. No spaciness or trace-like state.

Castiel, on the other hand, was already swimming around the rock toward Sam like he was the only other person on the planet. Dean didn't even have a chance to say anything before the angel was gone. 

Well, great. 

Another glance told him that Sam's singing voice had a good range — the people on the dock were just as gaga over him as the ones within arms' reach.

"It's working," he called to Sam. His brother had gone all silver eyed again — maybe he wasn't even listening.

Those creepy eyes flashed his way, and then Sammy smiled with a mouth full of sharp teeth. He swam back to greet Cas, sweeping the angel into his arms. He dragged him along near the shore, brushing Cas’s hair away from his face and lowering his song to a haunting whisper. Again, there was a vibrating hum in Dean’s ears. But the dock dwellers stared on, slack jawed and smiling like fools.

Sam paused in singing to place a kiss on the angel’s neck, following it with a playful bite. With those teeth, that probably wasn’t a good idea.

"Hey, uh, better keep singing or they might snap out of it!" Dean called dubiously. He was more worried about Cas being too smitten to care if Sam drew blood at the moment than the crowd, but no need to tell his brother that. 

The crowd were basically happy zombies, so Dean quickly swam his way back toward the shore, going over his options. 

Moving that many people, not an option. Was the damned fishing trawler guy also hypnotized? If not, he was on his way in. Maybe if he just got rid of all of their phones, nobody would believe the idiots.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Cas had wrapped both arms around Sam and was happily resting his head on the merman's shoulder. Dean wondered if he'd even remember this later. 

Sam pulled Castiel along lightly, singing to him instead of the crowd. Everyone still seemed hypnotized though. One of them fell off of the dock, dropping her phone and purse as she fell in head first.

Sam sat up from his song, eyes glinting with delight at the splash. He dropped Cas and flipped back under the water out of sight.

"Crap..." Dean glanced quickly at the crowd. Where they still all mesmerized? Quickly deciding it didn't really matter, he swam over to drag the lady out of the water as fast as he could. He had a feeling Sam was about to drown her if he didn't.

Not far away, Cas had the most forlorn look on his face. He didn't go after Sam, though, just looked around for him sadly. Dean didn't have time to do more than glance at the angel. 

Just as he reached the sleepy-eyed woman, arms captured Dean and plunged him below the surface. He was released. It was pitch black, then he caught a glimpse of the trawler light above him. Before he could swim toward it, a red hot pain shot up his shoulder as teeth sank deep into his flesh.

Well, shit. He hadn't counted on Sam targeting him, but apparently when he was in silver eye mode he didn't care who he was attacking. The water was so cold that the pain was just a glow for a moment — then the saltwater part sank in, and it stung like hell.

Dean didn't have enough air to stay down there long. He reached back, grabbed a handful of Sam's hair, and yanked on it, trying to get him to let go.

His brother spun in the water, ripping his hair free from Dean’s grip. The brunette circled him swiftly, pausing to eye him. In the dim light Sam looked gruesome. His sharp smile was trailing red as he disappeared back into the blackness, the glint of silver like a cat’s eyes in the dark.

But a second later he shot back up to Dean, catching him tightly in his arms. They broke the surface.

“Dean!” Sammy yelled, immediately letting his brother go. “You’re bleeding!”

Dean coughed, sputtering for air, and attempted to tread water with one hand and clamp the other over his shoulder. It didn't work; his head slipped back underwater before he gave up on the wound and swam with both arms, hissing in pain. 

"Because you f-freaking BIT me!" He replied, trying not to snap. Sam wasn't right in the head when his eyes went silver, but it was tough not to blame him. Did he really not remember biting Dean two minutes ago, really?

“What?” Sam looked horrified as he spit out blood and…a chunk of something. No. A chunk of Dean. The merman wretched, dipping to clean his mouth out with sea water. He surfaced again, gagging and sputtering.

A loud honk sounded over the waves as the trawler finally pulled into sight. Sammy glanced that way.

“Where the hell is that box?” He yelled over a second blast of its horn.

"I've got it," Dean replied, gritting his teeth. His shoulder somehow felt a lot worse after seeing Sam had actually taken a chunk out of it. "W-we've gotta get away from these people, damn it..." He looked back toward the people on the shore, and saw that they and Cas were looking out of it over there. Apparently the siren singing had lingering effects. "I-it's in my coat pocket."

Sam looped an arm around Dean and dragged him to the shore. He half threw the older Winchester onto the beach, crawling up on his elbows. Sammy rolled over and called back to their angel friend.

“Cas! Get over here! Dean’s injured!”

He promptly flopped back over to face Dean again and held a hand out to him. “Give me the box.”

As soon as Dean was out of the water, the pain set in. The entire shoulder of his jacket and shirt were quickly turning red.

That was a lot of blood. Not good. Dean clamped a hand over his shoulder, uttering a few choice words between gritted teeth. 

"Left. Pocket." 

He wondered if the crowd was awake enough to notice them yet. Cas sure did — he was over at Sam's side in moments, trailing sea water behind him. 

"The people on the boat can see you, Sam..." 

“Cas, you need to heal Dean.” Sammy stretched to reach Dean’s pocket, feeling for the box. “Hurry! He’s bleeding!” He gave up on the box and yanked the angel closer. “God, did I hit an artery?”

Dean wanted to make some sarcastic reply, but he felt too cold and heavy to muster up the effort. In fact, his arm felt kind of numb. How much blood was he losing, exactly?

Before he had much time to wonder, Castiel was looming over him, pulling at the hand over the wound. 

"Dean, let go — I can heal this," the angel said, looking at him with worry. He wasn't all starry-eyed over Sam for the first time since this whole thing had started, and that was a bit scary. Apparently Dean was bad enough off to get his attention.

Since Cas seemed to be about to heal Dean, Sammy pulled the box out of his brother’s pocket. In the blink of an eye, he was suddenly laying there butt naked. The tall brunette cringed. He glanced back out to sea at the trawler and the dock, then back to his brother.

“I’m going to grab Cas’s coat,” he mumbled, before streaking off to the dock crowd.

Dean gave up pressing on his shoulder, letting Cas move his hand. He'd been wounded enough times to recognize that this one was pretty bad. If not for Cas, it probably would've made a pretty ugly scar. Unless he bled out first. 

The blue-white glow from the angel's hand seemed to sink down into his shoulder and chest, and he closed his eyes against the brightness of it. The pain and numb cold vanished so abruptly that he may as well have imagined it all. Sitting up in the blood-soaked sand made it clear he hadn't, though. 

"Whoa." 

"I'm going to help Sam," Cas told him, hurrying off down the beach. Dean got to his feet slowly, sighing. Right...they still had to lose the nutjobs on the beach. And the damned fishing trawler.

Sammy was already on his way back. He was now wearing Castiel’s trench coat, with the box tucked under his arm. He met the angel halfway and didn’t stop until he reached Dean again. Now that he was human again, he was shivering deeply and hugging the coat close.

“They’re still dazed. I threw their phones into the water — now’s our chance!”

Dean could relate to the freezing cold part. They were all soaking wet, and having pants on probably didn't make much of a difference. Castiel turned back for him when Sam did, he noted — rather than just glomming onto Sam and forgetting Dean existed like the last few times. Maybe the box was helping?

"Th-the car's that way," he said, nodding in the Impala's direction and starting toward it. His boots sloshed a bit, still full of water. Whatever. 

Sam hurried to climb in the passenger seat, leaving Dean to drive. Smart — it wouldn’t really be a good thing if he suddenly grew a tail while trying to drive.

The brunette once again tried to yank the necklace off and shove it in the box, only to have it back around his neck before Dean even got into the car. Sammy sighed and looked at his brother miserably.

Dean climbed into the driver's seat, glimpsing Cas in the rear view mirror. The angel wore such a sad, abandoned look over how Sam sat in the front instead of back there with him that Dean almost laughed. He stuck the key in the ignition and started the car instead, putting distance between them and the beach. Probably wasn't funny to Cas, at least not right now.


	11. Little Room

Nobody said anything for a few minutes. 

“Sorry I bit you,” Sam said finally, turning the box over in his hands. He looked almost as sad as Cas did as he glanced at Dean. “I don’t remember doing it.” His eyebrows lowered into a frown. “Well. Kind of. It’s really fuzzy. Like when you only half remember a dream or something.” Sam sat back in his seat. “I don’t remember why, though. Did I go nuts or something?”

Dean focused on the road again, trying not to scowl too much. Sam acted totally different when his eyes went silver, and if anything was at fault, it was the damned necklace. They were lucky Cas was around, though, because that had been a pretty nasty wound. 

"This lady fell into the water," he replied finally, sighing. "I went after her, and you went after me. That thing-" he nodded at the necklace, "-is messin' with your head too, not just Cas's."

Speaking of Cas, he was completely silent in the back seat. 

Sam grabbed the necklace between his fingers and looked at it critically. But his expression shifted back to sad as he let it drop against his chest.

“It’s like when Gadreel was in me. I have these…black outs. I can remember random things, like a sound or a taste.” Sammy glanced a little at Dean, swallowing nervously. “Any idea how we can take it off yet?” He sat up to check on Cas and frowned sadly. Not waiting for a reply from Dean, he shifted in his seat to reach a hand back to the angel. “Hey. You okay?”

Dean glanced back as well, uneasy now. So he wasn't the only one who was reminded of Gadreel. Great. 

Cas looked tired, and still unhappy about being alone in the back seat. Still, he smiled at Sam the moment the brunette was focusing on him, taking his hand. 

"I'm fine."

“Okay.” Sam didn’t seem to believe him, placing a light kiss on the angel’s knuckles before turning his attention back to Dean. “Did you find anything about the box yet?” He questioned his brother. Turning the box over again, he brushed his fingers over the front and sighed deeply.

Dean blinked at the kiss, turning his eyes back to the road. Right, by the time he got to the beach Sam had gone from ‘I think Cas is gay, but I'm not, so don't worry about it’ to kissing the angel every time he turned around. Cas looked so happy about it that he felt almost guilty that he actually HAD found some info on the necklace.

"Actually, I did," he informed Sam, throwing a little extra annoyance into his tone to try and cover everything else. Sam and Cas together was kind of weird, but they seemed happy. And here he was about to ruin it. It was fake, but ignorance had to be bliss compared to their actual daily lives lately...

Taking a sharp right turn and clearing his throat loudly, Dean added, "The scale's from a mermaid, and the box is made out of the ship that killed her."

“Really? Wow.” His little brother turned his head to look at him with both eyebrows raised. “So it has to be the key to removing the necklace!” Sam examined the box very closely, squinting and poking at it all over again. “Maybe we just need to add symbols to it.”

Dean shook his head, pulling the car into a parking spot. 

"No, there's some trick to it. The mermaid drowned this sailor's brother, so the sailor killed her. With the boat," he clarified, sitting back in his seat. "Then she's about to die, and she uses her last couple minutes drowning him, at least that's what the book says. So they both die in some fit of revenge, and I guess the scale makes you wanna kill people. Or something. I fell asleep about there."

"Did you bring the book?" Castiel leaned forward to look between the seats at them. He was looking at Sam, even while talking to Dean, though. Figured.

"It's in the trunk."

“Yikes. Let’s get it. I can read up on this stuff on the way home,” Sammy said, adjusting the coat and getting out of the car. He glanced around to see if anyone was around, but since it was still the middle of the freaking night — the coast was clear.

Cas immediately climbed out of the car, too, stepping after him. Dean sighed and followed them, closing and locking the car's doors. 

"We're staying here tonight." 

He stepped around his brother to the trunk, opening it up to pull out the backpack with the book and the usual overnight trip supplies — clothes, the salt and stuff they used to safeguard a room. 

“I hope this place has a bathtub.” Sammy sighed and followed after him, reaching to take Cas’s hand as they walked. He seemed perfectly lucid for the moment. Especially with the little box under his arm. 

Slinging the backpack over one shoulder, Dean locked up the trunk and trudged after them. He couldn't help feeling just a tiny bit bitter when the angel stepped closer to Sam's side and slipped an arm around his waist. Time to be third wheel all night, yay. 

Or the chaperon. He definitely didn't plan on leaving the two unsupervised with their heads all out of whack.  


* * *

  
The motel room was very small, and the wallpaper was peeling in a few places. They took the room anyway, without complaint. Dean wasn't as angry as Castiel had expected, considering how their last conversation alone had gone. Maybe he was just too exhausted to convey it properly. 

Cas was tired, too, but not in the same way. This fondness for Sam...this love...was so strong that it overwhelmed him somewhat. He didn't know what to do with it. Being close to Sam helped, and kissing him, but it felt like something he would only be able to do until Dean managed to solve the necklace problem.

What would he do then?

Sam hovered near where his brother was at the bed, box still in hand. He looked a little tired himself. Maybe even a little pale. His hair was still a bit tousled from the ocean, but it didn’t take anything away from the way he looked.

He glanced at Cas and gave him a small sad smile. Maybe he knew that they had a time limit too? 

Dean was handing Sam the book he'd brought, but Castiel barely noticed. He was too busy feeling foolish for how much that little smile hit him. He felt like laughing and crying all at once. Was he happy or sad? He couldn't quite tell. Maybe some of both.

"There's some clothes in there," Dean said, drawing his attention. The older brother was pushing the backpack at Sam as well as the book, his phone in his other hand. "I'm gonna order some food."

“Dibs on the shower,” Sam called after him tiredly. He sat the book aside and rummaged through the backpack for clothes, picking out a pair of jeans and a white shirt. He turned around to head toward the bathroom, but paused when he saw Cas again. The tall brunette bit his lip, glancing to see if Dean really had gone across the room.

He had — he was over by the window, talking into the phone and running a hand over his face tiredly. 

Poor Dean...he was doing his best to help, but he was only human. Castiel was the one who had brought Sam all the way out here, so the blame for Dean's current state was most certainly his.

Sam was so near right now, though, that he focused on that for a shamefully short amount of time before turning back to the younger brother. The one he loved. 

Sam was looking right at him, those hazel eyes thoughtful and distant. His head lowered and he stepped past the angel into the bathroom. The door almost closed, but then opened again. Sam had swapped from Castiel’s coat to just a fluffy white towel around his hips. He shyly offered the coat back to the angel. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t — he just blushed and avoided meeting Cas’s eyes.

Silence didn't usually bother Castiel — not with how long the nights were with everyone around him sleeping. This was different, though, and somehow unbearable. He reached for the coat, but gripped Sam's wrist instead.

"Sam..." He spoke softly, and had no idea what to follow the name with. Something, though. Sneaking a covert glance at Dean — still facing the window — the angel slipped through the door past Sam, tugging him along by the wrist.

The bathroom was very small — Sam had to stand in the shower for them to both fit without being pressed together. He twisted his wrist free, holding up both hands.

“We can’t do this!” He dropped his voice suddenly, glancing at the door. “Dean’s right — the necklace is just messing with our heads!”

Castiel tilted his head, frowning. 

"What is it you think we're doing? I just wanted to speak to you without Dean listening," he explained. 

Now his mind was wandering to places it shouldn't, trying to fill in what Sam might be thinking. He was quite a sight in only his towel, the round black tattoo a stark contrast on his chest. Impulsively, Cas placed a hand over it. 

Sam froze at his touch, but his skin felt warm under Castiel’s palm. He could feel the tall man’s heartbeat thumping loudly.

“Cas,” Sam said softly, putting a hand over the angel’s. But he squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. “W-what is it?”

The hand over his was warm, too. Sam's hands were larger than his. This shouldn't have been as distracting as it was. 

"Do you..." Castiel focused on their hands instead of Sam's face, unsure how to explain. He placed his other hand lightly against the tall man's neck, looking at his mouth next, and tried again. "Do you still believe that I don't actually love you?"

He was starting to wonder, himself. If Dean cured the curse, would he also "cure" them of their love? He couldn't imagine NOT loving Sam anymore.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the brunette’s eyebrows pinched together. He took both of Cas’s hands in his and squeezed them. The expression on his face was unbearable. He looked so heartbroken.

“I do. Cas, this isn’t real.” Sam turned his face away as those hazel eyes grew misty. He let go of the angel and moved back against the shower wall, dropping his head low. He licked his lips and reached to open the door. “You’ll thank me later.”

Castiel caught his hand before it reached the door, though. Sam was right to doubt — he was doubting, too, even as he asked the question. Why did it hurt so much to hear it anyway, then?

"Maybe I don't care about later," he said stubbornly, frowning at the bathroom door. Dean had to have noticed they'd gone in here together by now. "Dean said the scale is about revenge, not love. Maybe the love is us, Sam."

“God,” Sam breathed. He shook his head slowly. “I hope it is, but…” The brunette looked at Cas again, tears escaping down his cheeks. “I want it to be us — I love you. But if you don’t really love me, I just-” He cut himself abruptly, shrinking away from Cas. “I didn’t want you to know,” he said roughly, quickly drying his face with the back of his hand.

The angel let go of his hand when Sam moved away, fighting the instinct to go after him, comfort him. Kiss him and tell him that he was wrong. 

Instead, he reached for the door. 

"I'll help Dean get the necklace off," he said quietly. "And then we'll know. You'll know."


	12. Text

Having rethought the jeans, Sam had changed into a pair of pajama pants after his shower. Halfway through bathing, he had remembered that he should be holding the box — but he had made it back to the bed without growing a tail.

He couldn’t even look at Cas after their conversation. With any luck, the angel would dismiss their embarrassing talk as the curse talking. But Sam knew damn well the the scale had nothing to do with it. The last few days had painted him a rather clear picture of something that he had been denying adamantly for, oh, it must have been a couple years.

He actually WAS in love with the angel.

Crawling into bed, he buried his face in his pillow. Food be damned. He just wanted to be unconscious. Reaching a hand out, he pulled the box over and hugged it close.

After a few minutes, he heard a knock at the door, and then Dean talking to whoever was delivering the food. Sam hadn't even noticed what his brother ordered. Probably something cheap and deep fried.

Abruptly, the bed shifted as someone sat down on the edge. Cas was across the room last he checked, but so was the door and Dean. It could really only be one of the two — Sam had serious doubts that they would just let anyone else into the motel room without a fuss. 

He was tired. Falling asleep was the best option that his mind could come up with for escaping his current reality. The reality that Cas didn’t actually love him, and that Sam was doomed to possible eat people alive if he ever let go of that box again. Curses sucked. 

He sat up, keeping the box close at his side to check who it was that had joined him. Dean was seated there, digging containers of Chinese takeout out of a white plastic bag. 

He turned to Sam, one container in each hand, and asked seriously, "Beef and broccoli or orange chicken?"

“Orange chicken,” Sam sighed, holding out a hand. He really wasn’t that hungry after almost swallowing a chunk of Dean’s neck. Ugh, he thought with a cringe. It could have been a whole lot worse — but it still made him shiver. 

His brother pushed the box into his hand, followed by a pair of chopsticks stacked on top of it. He promptly opened the beef and broccoli and took a big bite of it, looking around the motel room instead of at Sam.

Sam scooted up in bed and started into the food too. He chewed slowly, focusing on the tangy sauce rather than the memory of biting someone. Why did he always get the weird, human-eating problems? 

Oh wait. Dean had been a vampire. 

He took another bite and stared at the little box. After everything that had happened, finding a cure was his top priority. If he kept the necklace on, he might end up doing something he would really regret with Cas. 

Sam blushed at the thought and sat his food aside, sinking back into the bed. He had seen how having power had made him act before, and it wasn’t good. 

"Hey, uh..." Dean was speaking softly, for some reason. Cas could probably hear them across the room regardless. "Did you guys fight or something?"

Was that how the conversation in the bathroom had looked to Dean? He and Cas hadn't exactly spoken since, and the angel had been practically glued to him otherwise during this whole curse situation...

“What? No,” Sam said with a frown at his big brother. He sat back up and sighed, glancing at Cas and also lowering his voice, for all the good that it did them. “Maybe the whole charm thing is wearing off now that I’ve had legs for awhile,” he theorized, gesturing to the angel. 

Stay out of it, Sam thought bitterly. Whatever was going on between Cas and him, curse or not, the last thing he needed was Dean sticking his nose in the middle of it. 

That sentiment must have shown on his face, because Dean frowned back at him and decided to look at his food instead.

"You're still wearing the necklace whether you have a tail or not," he pointed out. "And Cas still isn't acting normal, he's just a different kind of weird right now."

Sam looked at the dark haired man again and then back to Dean. 

“Yeah. We had a fight,” he admitted quietly, running a hand through his damp hair. 

Dean looked over at him, studying his expression. He seemed to have forgotten about the takeout container he held in his hands. "I'm surprised. You guys looked pretty okay with all of this back at the beach."

“We…” Sam shook his head, digging out his phone and typing up a text to Dean. It was stupid — they were sitting less than four feet from each other — but the angel couldn’t hear them that way. 

_‘Cas won’t believe me that it’s the curse. He thinks he’s actually in love with me.’_ He hit send and then nodded to his brother pointedly. 

Dean sat up, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the message. He shrugged slightly, tapping out a response.

_‘All the kissing probably didn't help.’_

Sam’s entire face flushed at the words and he replied quickly. 

_‘I barely remember that! When I’m in the water, it’s like I’m drugged. I’m happy about everything and Cas was there so’_ He cut the message off abruptly, trying to think about what he meant to say. Giving up, he hit send. 

Dean glanced from the phone over to him and raised his eyebrows, mouthing, 'really?' He typed on the phone and hit send, giving Sam a pointed look.

_'Weren't in water when you got Cas to drive you to Texas.'_

Sam stared at his phone’s screen. That was true. 

_‘I think it’s like the song. It has a lingering effect on us.’_

Us? That probably wasn’t as true as he hoped it was. Yes, he had trouble remembering what he did when he was at the ocean — but he had been thinking pretty clearly on the drive there. 

Thinking about kissing Cas. 

Brushing a thumb over the scale necklace, he hit send again. 

Dean checked the message and sighed.

"Probably right," he said, running a hand through his hair. He looked exhausted, now that Sam was away from water and Cas long enough to notice. If Dean went to sleep, though, that left him and Castiel unsupervised.

Sam gulped nervously, eyes drifting across the room to where the angel was reading. He turned back to his brother and put the phone away. 

“You should really get some sleep.” 

Dean sighed and stood up, carrying the takeout container with him.

"I really shouldn't. You guys might not be here when I wake up," he pointed out.

“I’m not going to run off again,” Sam sighed loudly. He knew he couldn’t really promise that, but Dean needed to sleep. He looked around the motel and spotted the bag of goodies they always brought with them. Frowning, he crawled out of bed and dug through it. It took him a minute, but he found what he was looking for. 

Dean sat the food aside, crossing his arms and watching this.

"What are you gonna do? It's not like Cas couldn't bust through whatever would hold you," he pointed out.

“I think you’d notice if I left while we were handcuffed together,” Sam said, holding up the cuffs. He didn’t really like the idea, but he couldn’t think of another one at the moment. Dean would notice if Cas broke the handcuffs, and the angel couldn’t fly them away at the moment. 

Dean didn't look thrilled with the plan, either, but Sam also knew he was too tired to come up with a better one.

"Fine. It's better than nothing, I guess."

Sam clicked the handcuffs onto his wrist and crawled back into bed. Knowing Dean, he still planned on dragging his feet about going to sleep. The sooner they found a cure the better. That strange feeling was coming over his mind again. A draw to the sea. He grabbed the little jewelry box and held it tightly. 

Cas hadn't said a word to either of them since Sam had come back out here. He seemed intent on the book he was reading right up until the click of the handcuffs — and then the angel promptly stepped over to investigate.

"What are you doing?" He asked the brothers, frowning when Dean lay down on the other side of the bed and clicked his wrist into the cuffs, too.

“Cas,” Sam said, beckoning the angel over to his side of the bed with his free hand. “No matter what I tell you later, we have to stay with Dean. No running off to the ocean or the lake. Okay?” He stared up at those gorgeous blue eyes. 

Swimming around the ocean with Cas again sounded like heaven. The pure joy that had washed over him the moment they were in the water together was sharp in his memories. He wanted that again so bad that it hurt. His chest hurt, his head hurt — actually, he kind of felt like a truck had run him over suddenly. 

Or a boat. 

Sam took a painful breath as quietly as he could. That really couldn’t be a good thing. 

Castiel took his hand and squeezed it, nodding. He caught the brief pained look on Sam's face, though, and leaned closer with a worried frown. 

"Sam. About what we discussed before..."

Sam felt the cuff on his wrist tug a little; Dean was kind of a captive audience at the moment.

Sam glanced at his brother, praying that Castiel didn’t say anything too specific. Dean hadn’t exactly been disgusted by them kissing — but he most likely was relying on the comforting thought that they would be cured soon and back to not kissing. 

He looked up at the angel with pleading eyes and a small nod. 

“What about it, Cas?” 

"I'm not angry," the angel said sadly. Those blue eyes shifted from Sam's own to his lips, a longing look, but he didn't try to lean in for a kiss. "I shouldn't have pushed you, and I apologize. I hope...that you aren't angry with me."

He avoided Sam's eyes after that, like maybe he was afraid to look for a reaction.

Sam was pretty sure Dean was holding his breath, because he was ABSOLUTELY silent over there on his side of the bed.

“I know you’re not yourself. I don’t blame you,” Sam said quietly, checking on his brother. 

He wouldn’t mind a goodnight kiss from the angel. Especially if it was their last chance. His last chance. When Cas went back to normal, he probably wouldn’t waste his time thinking about it again. 

Dean had his eyes closed, and was doing his very best to appear already asleep. He was so tired Sam was certain he would be snoring if he was actually out, but it was nice of him to pretend, at least.

"I am still myself," Cas insisted, but he didn't sound like he wanted to argue about it. "I hope you will believe me once the necklace is gone."

Sam squeezed Cas’s hand a bit and led him down close, placing a kiss on those beautiful lips one more time. 

It would be really hard to explain later with how lucid he had been through his conversation with Dean, but if there was even a small chance that Castiel actually liked him — he’d have to be a real jerk to make the angel sit and worry all night if Sam was mad or not. 

Or at least, that’s what Sam told himself. He didn’t believe it for a moment. He just felt selfish. 

Cas slipped an arm around him and leaned closer, returning the kiss almost desperately. It really felt like a kiss goodbye. Maybe he did have doubts that he would feel the same after the curse was lifted. Maybe, deep down, he knew he wouldn't.

The thought made Sam want to cling to him more. Seeing the angel and remembering every kiss they had shared was going to be torture. 

Sam moved to hug Cas in return — but ended up yanking on the handcuffs. He shyly broke off the kiss, feeling just as bad for ending it as he did for making poor Dean be a captive audience. He cleared his throat. 

“The only way we’ll know for sure is to take the necklace off.” 

Cas looked like he wanted to say more, but he let go of Sam and took a step back from the bed.

"I'll read through the book while you sleep," he promised, glancing from Sam to Dean sadly before turning to head back across the room. Sam watched him go until he was seated across the room, heart sinking lower with every step the angel took.

It felt so final. 

He laid back down and stared sadly at the ceiling, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. How was he supposed to sleep now?


	13. Moonlight

Between all the tossing, turning, and tugging on the handcuffs, Sam only got a few hours of sleep. It felt like he just laid there all night, but at some point he had dreamed. 

He had dreamed about holding Castiel’s hand. It was the bit that he could remember. They weren’t swimming or walking. The angel’s hand kept slipping through his, fingers going loose as Sam desperately tried to hold on. 

Sam hadn’t had a prophetic dream in years, but he felt like it was a clear sign that he was the only one actually in love. He rolled over slowly to check on the others, carefully not jerking the handcuffs around. His wrist was sore but that was his own fault for not sleeping. 

Dean had actually fallen asleep pretty fast. Sam noticed when he started snoring. Unfortunately for both of them, Sam's brother usually wound up sleeping on his face by the end of the night — so at one point he had rolled over, laying on his handcuffed arm, and buried his face in the pillow. His arm was probably going to be numb when he woke up.

Castiel wasn't sitting in the corner with the book anymore. The book lay on the table, still opened to some middle page, and the angel was standing by the one small window in their room, looking out into the night. The moonlight shining in made such a perfect halo on his dark hair that it felt like some kind of trick.

“Cas?” Sam whispered hoarsely, knowing full well that the angel could hear him anyway. His mouth felt painfully dry. He went to sit up but caught himself just in time not to yank on the handcuffs. 

He was right. Cas turned at the sound of the whisper, looking back his way. The moon was bright outside, and it lit one side of his face. For a moment, it seemed too beautiful to be real. Sam blinked, though, and the next thing he knew, Cas was stepping quickly over to his bedside.

"Sam. What is it?" He asked softly, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder.

Sam hadn’t realized it himself until that moment. He flung back the covers, stunned by the gleam of the moonlight on his tail. He turned back to the angel. 

“The box.” Sam felt around in the bed for it, but couldn’t find it. It must have fallen off of the bed. He quickly leaned to look for it. 

Cas glanced around, too, and pressed lightly on his shoulder. 

"I'll find it — lay down, don't wake Dean."

He said that, but the glint of the silvery tail in the moonlight seemed to catch him just a moment later. He ran a hand lightly over the smooth scales somewhere near where Sam's knees would normally have been, captivated. "...Is it so bad to be this way, though?"

Sam’s heart fluttered at the angel’s touch, and he felt himself shake his head. 

It wasn’t so bad. It only felt bad when he was out of the water. 

He reached to take the angel’s hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles, then his palm. 

Cas liked him this way, so what were they waiting for? They didn’t belong in some cramped motel room — they were meant to be in the sea. Sam pulled Cas toward him as a wave of energy washed over him. He didn’t need sleep. He needed to be free. 

The angel gladly sank down into his arms and pressed a kiss to his lips. 

"Sam..." He sighed, sitting back just enough to admire the brunette's face inches from his. The bright moonlight still caught in his blue eyes, making them shine. "I love you."

“I love you so much,” Sam whispered in reply. He hugged Cas tightly. Running a hand through the angel’s hair, Sam leaned close to his love’s ear. “Take me back to the sea.” He didn’t wait for a reply though, pulling Cas back against him for another kiss.

The magic of the sea was calling to him. He could hear the waves in his ears, feel the silky touch of the water on his skin — as wonderful as the man in his arms. 

When he broke away from Castiel’s perfect lips at long last, he bit his own lip with sharp teeth. 

“Now,” he breathed. 

Cas gazed at him with such love. Like he was the most important thing. The angel's focus moved from his eyes to his mouth and back as Sam bit his lip, and he smiled.

"Yes." He moved away from Sam only to stand beside the bed and turn to pull the merman into his arms again.

The tug at Sam's arm stopped him from moving far, though. Dean — Dean was still cuffed to him, and the movement had made his brother stir. He rolled over enough to see the two of them, squinting sleepily.

"Sammy?"

Scowling at his brother, Sam did what he had to do — though he did it with glee. He yanked his brother’s arm closer and sank his teeth in deep. Nothing would stop him now.  


* * *

  
Dean snapped awake from a dead sleep to sharp pain — sharp enough to flinch. He jerked his hand away from whatever was chomping down on it and instinctively shoved the thing away with the other arm.

Sam gawked at his brother with wide eyes. 

“Dean?” He looked both confused and scared as he scrambled to get the little box from his pillow. He held it against his chest, taking deep breaths. “Did I..?” He looked at Dean’s hand, eyebrows pinching. 

Dean looked quickly around the room, reality sinking in. Motel room. Cas stepping toward them from the window, bright moonlight streaming in across the floor, and Sam on the bed beside him giving him the damned puppy eyes.

His hand started throbbing, and he glanced quickly to confirm that there was a bite mark there. Sam had bitten him. Again. At least there wasn't any blood gushing this time, just the already darkening mark.

"Think so," he said shortly, watching Cas step near Sam, placing hands on both of his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked them both, concerned. “Was it a nightmare?”

“I bit him,” Sammy breathed, staring at the bite mark sadly. He looked up and flinched when he met Cas’s eyes — scrambling back against the pillows. 

"Sam..." The angel reached for him, but stopped himself. He looked upset at such a reaction, though, almost hurt about it.

"I'm not even bleeding, guys," Dean told them tiredly, leaning to the side since Sam would have yanked on his arm otherwise. "It's fine."

“No it’s not!” Sam snapped, grabbing the necklace and tearing it off as he had done before. “We need to get this thing off. NOW.” He threw the necklace with all his might, but nothing landed. It was safely back around his neck. 

The brunette sighed roughly, leaning back against the pillows again. He looked over at Dean miserably. 

“I can hear the ocean. Right now. I can hear the waves.” He looked at Cas and shook his head. “A-and I feel pain. It’s in my head and my chest. Like I got hit by something. You said the mermaid was killed by a boat, right?” 

Dean sat up, scooting a bit closer so that his arm wasn't being tugged on. 

"Yeah, that's what the book said. You think it's getting worse?"

"The book — I read it several times," Cas told them, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Sam. He eyed the brunette with obvious concern, but didn't try to reach for him again. "A witch made the necklace from the wreckage of the ship and the mermaids it killed. The box was part of the spell."

“A witch. If I feel like I’ve been hit now, do you think I’m going to die next — or am I going to drown someone else?” Sammy asked Cas hollowly, resting the box against his cheek. “It’s always something horrible with witches,” he mumbled. 

"It...makes the wearer vengeful," Cas admitted, glancing at Dean. He held out his hand. "Dean, I can fix the bite."

Dean had to move Sam's arm along with his to grasp the angel's hand. Cas's eyes flared blue, and white light wrapped around Dean's hand, soothing away the throbbing of the bite mark. It was gone when he pulled his hand back.

"Thanks, Cas. I say since we're already awake, we solve this thing, right now."

“We tried destroying the necklace, but we didn’t try to destroy the box. You said it was part of the ship that killed the mermaid — maybe if we burn it, we can destroy the necklace too,” Sammy suggested, tugging on the handcuffs. “Where’s the key?” 

Dean nodded at the backpack, and Cas promptly went to get it.

"Yeah, well the box is the only thing that changes you back. What if it doesn't get the necklace off? You've got no way to get legs again," he pointed out.

Cas still kept his distance, holding the key out for Sam to take. 

"The book did not mention how to remove the necklace, but the box seems to be key."

“So, we carve a protection spell on it. There has to be some way to get the necklace inside, because that’s where I found it,” Sam said. “Maybe the curse wore down whatever spell was on it. It wasn’t locked or chained. It had to be sealed with magic.” He frowned, taking the key from Cas and freeing them at last. He rubbed his wrist and looked back up to the angel. 

After a moment of rather Cas-like staring, he cleared his throat. “We need to head back to the bunker.” 

Dean nodded, digging his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

"Yeah, we got a few hours of sleep. Let's go."

Cas gave Sam another lingering look of concern, but turned and headed over to get the book from the table.


	14. Home

The slamming door echoed through the bunker. Sam and Castiel both immediately parted ways, the angel heading for the table with the stack of books Dean had been studying about bound spirits. The older brother trailed after them silently, backpack slung over one shoulder. 

They had a plan.

After hours in the car to consider it, they had decided that that was most likely what powered the necklace — a bound spirit. The mermaid’s, probably. It was kind of like Sam being haunted instead of a place being haunted. No ghost had appeared, so the solution was to unbind her spirit from the necklace and then do the usual salt and burn routine. It was supposedly a mermaid scale, so it counted as remains keeping her ghost there.

There were a few problems with that plan, though. The necklace didn’t seem affected by saltwater, and lighting it on fire while Sam was wearing it was obviously not an option. Maybe once they unbound the spirit, the salt would work. Dean was no expert on witchcraft, but apparently Sam knew of some spell in an old book that worked for that. If it got him uncursed, Dean was all for it.

“Okay, I think this is the one,” Sammy said, coming back to the table where Cas was with a thick brown leather book in hand. He blew across the top and dust puffed out into a cloud. Coughing and fanning the air, he took a seat by the angel and opened the book. “Okay…” He thumbed through a few pages, frowning and stopping to squint them. The small wooden box was tucked safely under his arm for the moment. 

Cas sat the book he'd retrieved on the table, leaning to look at whatever Sam was looking at. Dean stepped quickly over to look, too, dropping his backpack on the floor by the table.

"It doesn't take any weird ingredients or anything, does it?"

“Uh,” Sam said slowly, trailing his finger along the page as he read. “I need spearmint leaves, mugwort and…blood. Of course.” The brunette sighed and looked up at Dean. “We have to draw the circle around the box and necklace and mix the ingredients while chanting, then the spirit should be released. We should have a salt circle around the entire area.” He held the book up for his brother to see, pointing as he read, “’The caster must not be the one the spell is affecting, and the affected one must be…’” He trailed off and frowned. “’Strapped down?’ Huh.” Sam sat the book back on the table and shrugged. “I doubt we actually need to do that. This spell is usually used for possessions.” 

“You sure? When you go silver eye, you do things like try to kill people,” Dean pointed out, frowning down at the diagrams in the book. “And Cas goes all gaga over you if you sing, so I can’t exactly rely on him, either.”

The angel looked gloomy at that, so Dean patted his shoulder. “No offense, Cas.”

“We’re trying to use an anti-possession spell on an inanimate object. There’s a lot of room for things to go horribly wrong. What if I need to help?” Sam argued, giving his brother a scowl. He took the box out from under his arm and sat it on the table, drumming the top with his fingers. “What if the mermaid comes out of the necklace and tries to eat you? We’ll both be in the circle.” 

Dean crossed his arms. 

"You CAN'T help, Sammy, the book says the spell's got to be cast by somebody else," he pointed out. "I can handle it. I'm more worried you'll do the silver eye thing, and Cas is gonna turn on me just because you say so."

He shot his friend an apologetic look. It was true, though — Sam and Cas hadn't exactly demonstrated that they would listen to him since this necklace business started, even when he was trying to help.

"I won't," Cas replied flatly, frowning at Dean. Great, so neither of them believed him. Dean remembered the singing incident at the beach, though. Sam could hum a few bars of 'Dust in the Wind' and the angel would be a goner again.

“Okay. Let’s just do this.” Sam shut the book, grabbed the little box and stood up from his chair. “Mugwort, spearmint and blood,” he repeated on his way around Dean. He headed toward the basement, calling back over his shoulder, “And I’m sorry in advance if I take a chunk out of you again.” 

"Thanks?" Dean shook his head, watching his brother's back as he started down the stairs.

Sammy usually cast any spells they had to do, but this time it was up to Dean. His little brother and his best friend were both relying on him to uncurse them, and he was determined not to screw this up.

"C'mon, Cas, let's get the salt."  


* * *

  
Sam was reading labels on little jars of herbs, the box still held carefully in one hand. Castiel stood there for a moment, admiring the shape of his shoulders and the way his hair fell against the back of his neck. He longed to move closer and place a kiss there.

Instead, he glanced back upstairs, reminding himself that Dean was already preparing the circles. They didn’t have long.

“Sam,” he said quietly.

The tall brunette looked up from the herbs, eyebrows already pinched together. He exhaled sharply before he spoke, fingers tightening around the jar he had in hand. 

“We don’t have to do this again,” Sam said quietly, glancing at the stairs to make sure that they were alone. 

They were. Castiel knew Dean was absorbed in drawing a rather large pentagram at the moment. Sam’s reaction only made his heart heavier, and he was sure that it showed on his face.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to…” He shook his head, studying the rows of jars on the shelves if only to avoid the taller man’s eyes. Why had he even come down here? To tell Sam that he loved him? They had already argued whatever sides they were going to argue. “It feels like you’re going away,” he admitted softly. “Not from here, just from…me.”

It pained him to even say it aloud. How could they go back to how they had been before?

“I’m not going anywhere.” Sam sat the jar and the box onto the shelf, turning to wrap Cas in a tight hug. He kissed the dark haired man’s cheek slowly before resting his head against his shoulder. 

Castiel wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist and leaned against him, too, closing his eyes. It felt so perfect to be in each other’s arms. The slightest possibility that it would all vanish with the necklace’s curse frightened him. He didn’t want to say it, though, and make Sam think that he doubted being in love at all. He did not. He loved Sam dearly, and this was breaking his heart.

Dean would be looking for them soon. Mustering his courage, Castiel sat back enough to look Sam in the eye.

“However we are tomorrow…I-I love you so much today. This moment. Please don’t forget.”

Sam nodded solemnly, taking the angel’s face in his hands and kissing him softly. When he pulled back, those beautiful hazel eyes were clouded with tears. 

“If you don’t tomorrow — it’s alright. Just don’t tell Dean. It’d be better if he thought it was the spell affecting me too.” He leaned in again, pressing his cheek against Castiel’s. He took a slow breath and sighed shakily. “I love you, Cas.” 

The angel brought a hand up to run through Sam’s hair. With the other, he tilted the taller man’s face down to press a kiss to his lips. 

Was that the last time?

“We should go to Dean now,” he whispered.  


* * *

  
Dean had chosen one of the empty bedrooms to draw the pentagram and lay the circle of salt around it. The floor was big in there, and nothing too important would get broken if something went wrong (which was likely.) After that, he’d read the Latin chants for the spell a few times in a row until he was confident he could recite them. Still, nobody else showed up.

Sam had said there were only three ingredients to get, and he’d been gone a long time for that. Castiel had slipped away at some point while Dean was drawing the pentagram, too. Any idiot could tell the two wanted to talk without him there. 

They’d done that twice before and ended up driving away. They wouldn’t pull that crap a third time…right?

Before he could charge off to find them, his little brother came wandering sadly into the room. He had a couple of small jars under his arm and the scale’s box in one hand. Sam looked over the pentagram slowly. He knelt and sat the spell stuff down, pulling a small knife from his jacket. 

“Now we just need some blood.” He looked up at Dean, eyes catching the light and glinting silver. 

The silver put Dean on edge, but he tried to cover it up with exasperation. He held out a hand for the knife.

"I'll use mine. Where's Cas?"

"I am here." The angel stepped into the room finally, looking grim. He glanced at Sam as he stepped past, going to stand beside the circle.

Sam held an arm out in Dean’s direction, watching him as he cut one long slice from his wrist to his elbow. 

“No, I’ll use mine.” Blood drops spattered on the floor, and the room seemed to hum suddenly. Sammy’s lips parted into a toothy smile as ran his tongue down the cut, smearing his mouth red. “Well, you’re definitely brothers.” 

A sort of ripple went through the air and Sam was falling to the ground, a familiar silver tail in place of his legs. The knife skittered past Dean’s feet. 

“Sam!” Castiel rushed to Sam's side immediately, gripping his injured arm tightly to slow the bleeding. The silver eyed thing possessing him had made a deep cut.

“Cas, that’s not Sam in there,” Dean warned, grabbing the knife up from the floor. The edge of the salt circle had gotten bloody, but it wasn't broken. Good. He stepped backward into it, scooping the herb bottles up as well. “Get him into the circle!”

“No, Cas!” Sam said sharply, bracing a hand on the angel’s shoulder. “Take me to the sea. Please,” he begged. “I just want to be free. With you,” he added softly, brushing the back of his hand against the dark haired man’s cheek. 

Castiel paused, gazing at Sam like he was the most beautiful thing the angel had ever seen. Dean was kicking himself for not insisting on tying Sam down — not that it would’ve done any good, he went silver eyed before they had actually started the spell. His arm was bleeding an awful lot…

“Cas!” He called, trying to snap the angel out of it. “If we don’t help him, he’ll die! You don’t want him to die, do you?”

Sam pressed his hand to Cas’s cheek and kissed him. He leaned back and locked his silver eyes on Dean, hissing between his bloody teeth. 

“Let’s go home, Cas.”


	15. Ashes

Glaring back into his brother’s silver eyes, Dean ran the knife over his palm. Castiel was picking the merman up, cradling him in his arms. How fast could Dean draw an angel banishing sigil? He’d really hoped he wouldn’t have to.

He didn’t yet, it seemed. Cas carried Sam into the circle, staying on the side opposite Dean. The older brother wasted no time — he was popping the corks off the herb bottles, smearing blood on the floor where they were about to go. The book called for a bowl, but too bad.

“No!” He heard Sam scream, thrashing in the angel’s arms. The brunette shoved himself free, landing against the floor with a thud. He snarled at Cas, lips pulling inhumanly away from his teeth as he crawled along the floor on his stomach. Dean noticed that the tips of Sam’s fingers were also turning silver to match his eyes and tail.

The change seemed to snap Castiel out of his charmed state the rest of the way. The angel went after Sam, scooping him up from the floor easily and hugging him tight to pin his arms.

“Whatever you are," he said grimly, "you are not Sam.”

It was a relief to hear that. Pouring the spearmint and mugwort leaves over the blood on the floor, Dean slammed the scale’s little wooden box down in the middle of the mess and began to recite the Latin as fast as possible.

“ _Hold tui et conteram! Et non erit inter vos…_ ” He cut his hand again, sprinkling more blood over the box. 

The box’s lid suddenly rattled at the chant, igniting the blood and herbs around it. The room grew colder despite the fire, though. 

“NO!” Across the room, Sam writhed, gasping and clawing at the necklace around his throat. 

Dean felt a chill creep up his spine. No. It felt like a hand. 

“ _…Ut et ego conteram isto carcere…_ ” He was still reciting the spell, how could the ghost get out of her cursed item yet? Flinching away from the touch, he turned quickly and jabbed the knife at the air there. He hadn’t picked an iron knife by accident — ghosts hated iron. This particular ghost had been crammed in the cursed box for who knew how long, and it was royally pissed off.

A shriek almost split his eardrums as a silvery swirl vanished into thin air. It had been a young-looking woman, but she had seen better days. It looked like a truck had run over her. Literally. 

He was vaguely aware of Castiel dragging Sam back toward the middle of the circle again. Sam was too busy clawing at his throat to fight Cas off. The necklace had started to smolder when the box did, singeing his brother’s skin. Castiel sat with him in the middle of the circle, holding his arms to keep him from struggling away.

“Dean, hurry!”

Dean had already turned back to the box.

“ _Ut et ego conteram isto carcere…_ ” Why did the spell have so many damn lines? The ghost could reappear any second! He grabbed the knife blade with his other hand, swiping a deep cut there. Dropping it, he pressed both palms down on top of the box and finally finished the chant. “ _Et conteram tenaci tuam, libera animam in esse!_ ”

The ghost snapped into view over Sam. Her mangled appearance screamed in horror as the necklace burned away to ash around Sam’s neck. 

The tall man blinked hard and took a deep breath in, staring at the fish-tailed spirit of the woman above him. While he still had his tail, his eyes had turned back to normal. She reached and gripped his face with silvery fingers, covering his mouth and nose with her hands. Sam tried to grab her hands, but his own passed straight through hers.

Cas glared at the spirit and left Sam’s side, heading straight across the circle.

Dean had already dumped salt and lighter fluid on top of the box. He’d grabbed the last of the spell items on the floor — his lighter — but his hands were bleeding enough to make it slippery. 

Before he could try to make it work anyway, Castiel stuck a hand over the box and blasted it with fire from his palm.

The other half of the room lit up in brilliant silver flame, engulfing the spirit and Sam together. The hum in the room vanished as the flames swelled like waves and splashed away into nothingness. 

Sam gasped, rolling onto his side and coughing in a cloud of ash. He sputtered and sat up out of the pile, shaking as he tried to breathe. The brunette dusted his hands and stopped short when he realized that he had legs again. Sitting back, he looked over at Dean with watery eyes. 

“Please tell me she’s dead,” he wheezed.

Glancing down at the pile of ashes where the box had been, Dean quickly nodded. Now that he had a second to notice it, his hands were starting to sting pretty bad, but he pushed himself to his feet and crossed the circle to his brother’s side, leaving a drippy trail of blood behind him. He sat down on the floor by Sam, wincing.

“Cas smoked her.”

The angel frowned and followed, kneeling on the other side of Sam and noting that there were only burn marks around his neck where the scale had been before. He placed a hand on the brunette’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, Sam?”

“Yeah.” Sam nodded at Cas, not meeting his eyes. He turned to Dean and gestured to his hands. “Did we really need that much blood?”

Dean glanced down at his bloody hands, which were shaking, and managed a small laugh.

“I-I wanted to be sure.”

“I can heal you.” Cas reached for his hands, but Dean moved them out of his reach, shaking his head. 

“Sammy first. His arm’s pretty bad.”

With hesitation, the angel turned and lifted Sam’s bloody arm, placing a palm over part of the long gash there. His eyes flared blue, Sam’s arm glowed white, and the injury was gone when the glow faded.

“Thank you,” Sam said, finally looking at Cas again. He looked away quickly, however, climbing to his feet.

The angel looked after him for a long moment, but didn’t comment. He turned to Dean and held out his hands. 

“Now you.”

Wondering what they had talked about before the spell casting, Dean let Cas hold his hands and heal them. He didn’t realize just how much the slashes hurt until the pain cut out all of a sudden. Pulling his hands away, he flexed his fingers and sighed.

“Thanks, Cas. How’re you holding up?” He studied Castiel’s expression.

Sam pulled on the pair of pajama pants they had set out as part of the ritual preparation, watching Cas out of the corner of his eye. He sure didn’t look too happy now that the necklace was off. 

The angel, meanwhile, looked down at the blood on the floor and tilted his head a little. Dean thought he looked unhappy, but he covered it up with a shrug and a calm tone, getting to his feet.

“I’m fine, Dean. You and Sam have had a long day — you should sleep,” he suggested, offering his hand. Dean took it and climbed to his feet as well.

“Good idea.”

He got the message. However the angel felt now, he didn’t want to talk about it.  


* * *

  
Sleeping was impossible. Sam finally dared to leave his room early in the morning. He didn’t want to disturb his brother, so he went to the main room and sat at one of the tables. 

Scanning over the tall, open room, he sighed. 

Castiel hadn’t said one word since the ritual. The necklace was gone. The spirit was dead, and it all felt like a strange dream. 

Sam rubbed the side of his arm where he had cut it. He remembered that part — then cold hands trying to smother him, and a mouth full of ghost ash.

Even after two showers, he still felt like he smelled like dead fish. 

Sam propped his chin on his hand and poked at one of the books on the table. It was one about mermaid legends. He opened it to a random page, absently tracing the image of a sailor jumping off of a boat into a beautiful mermaid’s arms. 

He sighed. 

At least Cas had kept his word about not telling Dean. They could just dismiss all of the crazy kissing as the spell and go back to normal life. 

He smiled softly. It was weird that being secretly in love with Cas was normal life for him. When did that happen? 

He thought back on the first time he’d made the angel blush. His legs had just turned into the fish tail, and he was a little distracted, but Cas had gone to pick him up from the floor and gotten flustered just holding him. It was a side of him that Sam had never seen before, and it was so…cute. Yes, the ages-old super-powered angel of the Lord was ‘cute.’

That was the first time Cas might have acted like he loved Sam back, but Sam had loved him for much longer — and would love him for longer, now that Cas was back to his usual self.

There were soft footsteps behind him, and the sound of a door opening. 

Sam closed the book and sat back in his chair, stretching. He hadn’t been as quiet as he had hoped, apparently. 

“Sorry, Dean. I think there are some waffles left in the fridge.” He shifted in his chair to look at his brother.

Blue eyes caught the lamplight, though. It was Castiel, about to step out the door to the entranceway. He stopped short, closing the door slowly.

“Sam. Good morning,” the angel said quietly.

“Uh, good morning.” Sam stared at him, freezing up. He tapped a finger on the book he had been reading, taking a deep breath. “Where are you going?” 

He wasn’t really sure what else to talk about — he was too busy regretting leaving his room.

Cas glanced at the door.

“Just for a walk,” he admitted. “I was going to look at the stars, but they’ll be gone soon.” He glanced around the room, adding uncertainly, “Is Dean…still sleeping?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, looking off down the hall toward Dean’s room. He then looked back at Cas and smiled, shooing him away with a hand. “Well, go enjoy the stars.” 

Stargazing. That sounded really nice. 

The angel lingered, though, looking at the door again and fidgeting with one of the sleeves of his trench coat.

“Would you walk with me, Sam?” He sounded uneasy about even asking. “We should talk.”

Sam nodded, getting up from his chair and taking the time to scoot it in. Despite his best effort to look neutral, he couldn’t keep his shoulders from slumping. He joined the angel by the door. 

“Yeah. We should.”


	16. Stargazing

Sam stepped out into the fresh morning air. It was chilly. He wasn’t sure where Cas planned on walking, so he’d waited until the angel started out and than followed him, tucking his hands into his pajama pockets. It was still dark outside, and the grass was damp under their feet.

As promised, the stars were out in force. Sam tilted his head back and watched them as they walked. The stars had been beautiful from under the water during their night out in the ocean, but something about the crystal clarity made them feel so much more real now. 

“Gorgeous.”

Castiel had been looking at the stars, too, but turned his blue eyes on Sam again after a moment. 

“They are,” he agreed, smiling softly. 

Sam smiled in return, ignoring the flutter in his chest. Cas rarely ever really smiled. It was so disarming. He had smiled a lot over the past week, but Sam knew those weren’t real smiles. They had been an illusion — blurring the lines between fact and fantasy. Just like the stars from under the water. 

Sam looked back up at the sky. Several stars twinkled back at him. There was a bright spot that he thought might be a planet. The sky looked so vast and cold and empty between the points of light. Most people didn’t realize how much space separated each one.

“…I remember it all,” Cas admitted quietly, now focused on the sky again as well. He sighed a little. “Every word. Every touch. Do you?”

Sam looked at him, eyebrows pinching. He nodded. 

Great. He had hoped that Cas might have been blessed with the same black gaps in his memory that Sam seemed to have — though they only seemed to be before he’d done something violent. He did remember most of it, too, though. He remembered holding Cas and laying on the sand at the bottom of the sea, surrounded by endless blue water. Kissing him, and the way Cas kissed him back. 

He sighed and closed his eyes, stopping along the walkway. 

“I’m sorry. We weren’t thinking right. I…I never should have kissed you.” 

“I don’t regret that,” Cas said honestly. Sam heard the angel follow a few steps behind him. “I’m glad that you did it.”

Sam turned to face him, blushing at the memory of their first kiss on that dock by the ocean. He rubbed his neck with a hand. 

“It wasn’t too horrible, huh?” He shrugged a shoulder. 

Castiel barely stopped in time to avoid running into him. He blinked up at Sam and then looked off to the side almost shyly. 

“No-one has ever been so close to me. I was so happy to be with you,” he said, wistfully. 

“I was happy to be with you, too,” Sam said quietly. Cautiously, he slipped his arms around the angel’s waist and hugged him. He couldn’t help feeling hopeful at that shy little glance.

Cas seemed surprised at the hug, but returned it warmly. 

“Sam…the curse was overwhelming,” he murmured, patting the taller man’s back. He seemed reluctant to end the hug, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder instead. “I loved you so much that it might have killed me. I knew that I wasn’t myself, even when I was saying that I was. …Did you love only that Castiel?”

The last, unspoken question hung in the air. ‘Do you still love me now?’

Sam ran his hands over the angel’s back, resting one behind his neck. He swallowed nervously. 

“No. The necklace never changed how I felt about you. I…I’ve loved you for a long time. Not the Cas that would do anything for me, the Cas that I get to see everyday,” he admitted, barely keeping the words from catching in his throat.

Cas lifted his head to look up at Sam, and the stars shone in those blue eyes. It was a longing look. 

“I didn’t know. Weren’t you going to tell me?”

“No,” Sam said sadly, a tear escaping down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly. “I didn’t care if you loved me back, that’s not what I wanted. I just wanted to be close to you. You…you see the world like it’s something amazing. I love that. I love everything about you.” 

The tear definitely affected Cas. He touched Sam’s face, leaning in close. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize it. I still feel something for you, Sam. Would you…allow me to try it again? To kiss you?” 

He seemed so hopeful. Was he hopeful that Sam would kiss him, or that a kiss would feel like it did with the curse in effect? Maybe he just wanted something that wasn't real. He was looking up at Sam so earnestly, though, eyes still shining.

“Yes,” Sam said softly, leaning down to kiss the angel. The ocean made the spirit of the mermaid happy, but it was Castiel that made Sam happy, he realized. Real or not, it had been all he could think about long before the stupid necklace. Even one more moment in the angel’s arms was worth any kind of curse the world could throw at him.

He expected this kiss to be more awkward than the ones before. It wasn’t, though — Cas melted in his arms the way he’d done at the beach, fitted perfectly against Sam’s chest. He pressed back into the kiss without hesitation, and time seemed to slow. There were no curses or secrets. It was just them and the stars. 

When the kiss finally ended, it was only because Sam was breathless. Cas still held him tightly, blushing and avoiding his eyes. 

“I-I don’t think the curse made me love you, either, Sam. I think I do anyway,” he confessed.  


* * *

  
"He didn't wake up for breakfast.” Castiel tried to keep his voice low as they stepped down the hallway of the bunker. After all of the trouble they had put Dean through these past few days, Sam and Cas had decided to do something nice for him; the angel was tasked with carrying the apple pie. He cradled it, peeking at Sam’s expression as they rounded the corner to the main room.

Castiel’s time under the influence of the curse had felt like a vivid dream, especially the overpowering infatuation with Sam. He was sure, though, after the kiss last night. He still cared for Sam. He wasn’t nearly so good at saying so without cursed objects involved, though.

Sam wore a look of determination. He led the angel up to Dean’s door and paused there, pressing an ear to the door. After a moment, he turned to whisper to Cas.

“I think he’s still sleeping,” he said worriedly. “We should probably just wake him up. If it’s so that he can eat pie, he’ll be okay with it.”

The whispering reminded Cas of their stargazing the night before, and he blushed the tiniest bit. 

“True.”

“Okay, what’re you guys up to?” They turned at the suspicious voice and saw a groggy-looking Dean returning from down the hallway, still in his rumpled PJ pants and T-shirt. He glanced from Sam to Castiel cautiously, like they might be armed. After the past few days, it wasn’t that odd to assume the two of them were possessed and/or about to run off on him again.

“Uh… Hey. You’re up.” Sam glanced from him to the door and then to Cas quickly. He turned and put an arm over Castiel’s shoulders and put on a wide smile. “Did you get any sleep?”

Dean looked at the two of them a bit worriedly, Cas thought. He did notice the pie immediately, though, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yep..." The expectant look was directed at Cas next, since Sam wasn't immediately offering any explanation.

Glancing up at Sam, Castiel stood up a bit straighter and squared his shoulders, offering Dean the pie he carried.

"Dean, we want to apologize for all of the trouble we've caused. We're sorry you lost sleep, and blood, and...well, that we mostly ignored your attempts to help us," the angel said. He felt guilty that most of his memories from this ordeal were pleasant ones. Not so much for Dean.

“Yeah, we’re really sorry,” Sam added sadly, shiny eyes pointed Dean’s direction. “You should just take it easy for a few days. There’s a six pack chilling in the fridge.” 

Sam cleared his throat and looked at the floor. They had another reason why they were there, but it seemed like he wasn’t too eager to bring it up yet. Maybe they should wait until Dean actually ATE some of the pie. Suddenly remembering, Sam pulled a fork out of his shirt pocket and offered it to his brother wordlessly. 

Dean still didn't look at ease, but he accepted the offerings, practically hugging the pie to his chest. 

"You guys weren't right in the head," he said, studying the two of them. The arm over Castiel's shoulders, in particular. "I don't blame you for any of that, okay? We're square. But," he held up the pie with a small smile, "this's still nice. Thanks."

He waved for them to follow and started toward the main room. 

"How are you guys doing, anyway? I think I've been asleep since we finished the spell."

Castiel glanced at Sam before starting after the older brother. Dean definitely noticed that they were not acting how they'd always acted before.

“We’re doing good. You know, no fins or cravings for sushi.” Sam licked his lips nervously. He kept his arm over Castiel’s shoulders as they followed after Dean. Cringing, he cleared his throat again. “Dean, we, uh, we’re kind of, uh…” He glanced at Cas and grimaced. “We’re kind of dating.” Cas could feel Sam tense as he waited for a response.

Dean stopped mid-stride, dead silent.

That was said far more bluntly than Castiel had been planning. Then again, he hadn't really had any good plan for how to tell Dean, and one of them had to do it. He reached up and squeezed the hand of Sam's that rested on his shoulder.

"Dean," he began, taking a deep breath. "The curse is gone, but my feelings for your brother are not."

Dean turned around finally, frowning at both of them.

"Really."

Sam gulped and nodded, squeezing Castiel’s hand in return.

“And I still love Cas.” He looked anywhere but at Dean, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. “I actually have for a few years,” he added in a mumble. Slipping his arm from around the angel’s shoulders, Sam shoved his hands into his pockets and finally dared a glance at his brother. “No curse involved.”

Dean sighed heavily, hugging the pie. 

"You know what, YOU I can believe. Cas, though..." He turned his green eyes on the angel, who frowned in return. "C'mon. You get hexed to fall head over heels for Sammy, then suddenly you guys are in love for real? Really?” 

Castiel took a step away from Sam, trying to remember the explanation he'd rehearsed on the way back from the store. It did look suspicious, but it was the truth, and Dean had to know the truth.

"I don't feel the way that I did while cursed," he admitted. "I was obsessed, thoughtless. Infatuated." He looked at Sam and smiled fondly. "It made me realize that he loves me, though. And I want to love him, too, Dean. Please give me the chance."

He turned his gaze back to Dean, hoping that it didn't sound insincere. The truth was that he definitely felt something for Sam, but he'd barely had any time to study his true feelings without the curse in the way. He thought it was love...maybe. If this was what love felt like.

Dean wasn't frowning so much anymore. He looked at them both thoughtfully, first Castiel and then his brother. 

"Well, uh...what do you guys want, my blessing? If it's YOU and not some ghost bitch talking, then I'm happy for you."

Cas looked at him hopefully.

"Really?"

“It’s really us, Dean.” Sam looked between them sadly, eyebrows pinching. He stepped closer to Cas again, taking his hand in his and holding it tightly. The angel kissed his hand gently. Dean seemed to understand now, blinking at the gesture and then smiling again finally.

"Then I'm happy for you guys. Really, good for you."

Cas smiled, too, and stepped quickly over to hug him as best he could around the pie. 

"Thank you, Dean..."

Dean hugged him back one-armed, chuckling. 

"Okay, okay... Any other bombs to drop on my head? If not, I've got a pie to eat."

Sam wasted no time and joined in on the hug, patting his brother’s back. 

“No, that’s all. Thanks.” He sat back and smiled warmly, patting Dean’s arm too. “Enjoy the pie.”

His brother sat back from them, held the pie up and sort of toasted them with it, smirking. 

"I say we ALL deserve a beer after all of this crap, but if you guys are too busy..."

Cas glanced at Sam. Were they busy? The big plan of the day was having this conversation with Dean.

“A beer sounds awesome,” Sam agreed nervously, hugging an arm around Castiel’s neck. His cheeks darkened as he glanced down at the angel. “Right?”

Cas looked up at him in turn, nodding.

"Yes. Awesome," he murmured.

He had a feeling that everything would be awesome from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END. It's complete! Silver and Cold has taken us nearly 6 months to write, and is our longest completed Supernatural fanfic to date. We hope you've enjoyed Team Free Will's antics, and we apologize one more time to Dean for putting him through so much crap. As always, thanks for reading and commenting!


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